The opening quarter started off with a strong offensive presence from both teams taking part in an aggressive volley of 3-point shot attempts from each team’s guards. 

  This resulted in a scoring drought that worked its way up to the 6-minute mark in the 2nd quarter. 

  “Being able to hold them down for 2 quarters and then building the gap by making some shots by getting out and running on the fast-break those, are two big things we work on,” head coach Armond Frazier said. “We try to make as many 3-point shots as we can. We have good shooters and we try to get them to fall.”

  With so many rebound opportunities, the Steelmen and Wildcats fell into foul trouble in the first half with a combined total of 15 fouls leading to several free throw attempts for Central, helping increase their lead up 3 at halftime with the score being 21-18. 

  “Basically the key is initiating contact,” senior Aaliyah Frazier said. “Absorbing it because you know it’s coming so instead of falling or letting them bump you, you initiate the contact.”

  In the second half, the Wildcats steered towards forcing turnovers, specifically a steal near the final buzzer of the 3rd quarter paired with a blocked shot and a halfcourt pass to Na’Kiyah Robertson for a breakaway layup.

   “I think I did well staying out of my head,”  Robertson said. “I know that I’m one of the biggest in the post in the conference, so I just used that to my advantage to score.” 

  Robertson at the center position racked up 15 points as the leading scorer for the game.

  Afterwards, Frazier forced another steal to ice the quarter leaving the Steelmen with only 4.5 seconds left which ended in an empty possession. 

  “My key to it is anticipating where they are going to pass the ball, said Frazier. “Because there are a lot of younger players on other teams, they’re not really used to faking the ball.”

  The crowd and benches began to get strongly involved with each possession in the 4th quarter while players began driving in more and straying away from shooting beyond the 3-point line.

  Joliet Central began to slowly trail nearing the final minutes with too many missed field goals and ill-advised passes.

  Plainfield Central ended up closing out the game with a 44-34 win, improving Plainfield to a 7-win and 13-loss record on the season while Joliet loses their 13th game of the season putting their record at 8 wins and 13 losses.