As the game wound down, the Central students took up the cause of forward Natasha Garrett, chanting for head coach Willie Taylor to insert the senior into the game.  Taylor obliged with about three minutes to go, leading to a late bucket from Garrett and “M-V-P!” chants from the Minutemen students.

Central made 32 free throws for the game, 22 of those in the second half, and shot 78% from the stripe.  Eastview, meanwhile, was just 40%, and shot only 20 free throws in the game.

Kiara Buford led all scorers with 24 points; Theairra Taylor added 20, and did not miss a shot in the second half, going 2/2 from the field and 8/8 from the free-throw line.  Brittnye McSparron and Emily Kaus both had 14 points for the Lightning.

It’ll be a rematch of last year’s title game on Saturday night; last year, Central defeated Minneapolis South to take the Class 4A title, but the Tigers have beaten the Minutemen twice already this season.

The Minutemen are pulling away - but slowly, and from the free throw line.  Kiara Buford, by herself, is 8/10 from the stripe; the team as a whole is 20/25 in this half and 30/38 in the game.  Buford leads the team with 24 points, and Theairra Taylor (6/6 from the line in this half) has 18.

The Lightning students appear to be getting an early jump on vacating the premises.  So too do some of the Eastview players - three have already fouled out.

The Minutemen were 10/13 from the free-throw line in the first half, and they’re repeating that performance in the second, going 8/10 in the first eight minutes today.  In contrast, Eastview is just 4/12 for the game.

Central is already in the double bonus in the second half, and if they continue to make free throws, Eastview is going to have trouble coming back.

Coming into the state tournament, Eastview’s Emily Kaus was averaging four and a half points a game.  She’s more than tripled that in today’s first half; the junior center has 14 points at halftime, has grabbed seven rebounds - and finally made a couple of free throws down the stretch, too.  Brittnye McSparron had some trouble getting untracked for the Lightning, missing her first five shots from the field, but a couple of layups - one in traffic, one on a fast break - gave her four at the half.

For Central, they keep on getting scoring from everywhere.  Kiara Buford has 11, Theairra Taylor has eight, Georgie Jones has four (along with four rebounds), and three other players have scored for the Minutemen.

The Central pep band just broke out “Brick House,” by the Commodores.  Preps all-star Mike Rand, sitting next to me, was legitimately excited about that one.

Junior center Emily Kaus has ten of Eastview’s 16, with all five baskets coming from a combined total of about eleven feet from the hoop.  The Minutemen are fronting the 6′2″ Kaus, and the Lightning are just throwing the ball over the top for layups.  Perhaps the best strategy: Hack-a-Kaus.  She’s missed all six free throws in this game.

For Central, Kiara Buford leads with nine points, but they’ve spread the scoring out - six players are on the board for the Minutemen.