Vanier's Abbi Flanagan drives into traffic against Central's Steph O'Byrne.

The Central Cyclones were playing well on Thursday night, but their coaching staff felt they had a little more in the tank than they showed during the first half of their game against the Vanier Spirits.

The Cyclones responded after the break and went on to win 69-39 over the Spirits in High School Senior Girls Basketball action.

“The second half we came out as a different team,” said Jocelyn Wigmore, head coach of the Cyclones.  “They just loosened up at halftime, worked more as a team, there was definitely more ball movement and just a more relaxed offence out there.”

The first half was tight between Central and Vanier with the Cyclones having a good first quarter to build up a 15-7 advantage.  The Spirits started to make their shots in the second quarter to make it 27-19 for Central at the break.

During halftime, the Central coaches left the girls to motivate themselves for the second half and it seemed to have worked as they played an outstanding second half offensively, rolling to the 30-point win.

“They don't believe what they're capable of and it seems like a lot of other people do,” said Wigmore.  “It's just getting them to realize that they are a good team and we can produce more and play together more.”

While Central seemed to find the confidence in their game, Vanier struggled with that throughout the game, passing up shots and resisting taking the ball to the basket.

“Our offence, we've been working on it a lot in practice, but they played some hard defence on us, so our shots just didn't drop and our plays didn't go as well as we wanted them to,” said Vanier guard Tori Beattie, who finished with a team-high eight points in the loss.

The Spirits played well for stretches in the game, but couldn't consistently keep up with the Cyclones on the offensive end and that didn't allow them to get back into the game.

“We're a fairly young team and I think it's just confidence is a big thing with us and we'll step it up,” said Beattie.  “Just individually we need to gain the confidence.”

Central was led by Diana Lumbala in the win as she put up a game-high 19 points, while Paige Newans chipped in with 15 and Hayley Henrikson added 12.

The win improves Central's record to 4-2 on the year and keeps them in second place just four points back of Peacock.  The Spirits fall to 1-5 on the year and sitting tied for fourth with the Assiniboia Rockets.

Peacock and Assiniboia squared off in the other Senior Girls action on Thursday night with Toilers doubling up the Rockets, 84-42.  Caitlyn Kitts was dominant in the win for Peacock, scoring a game-high 30 points, while Libby Epoch added 17.  Sheridan Mergel paced Assiniboia with ten points in the loss.

The Toilers are 6-0 on the year, while the Rockets fall to 1-5.

The High School Basketball League takes the week off next week for finals.