The harsh reality of sports is that no one ever feels sorry for you and guard Tiara Aziz certainly did not when she scored a career high 42 points to lead her Northampton Community College Spartans (24-1) to a 104-35 on Feb. 12.
“I have that killer instinct so I always look to score,” said Aziz when asked what made her so unstoppable on that night.
Almost equally as impressive for the Spartans was guard Alyssa Gibson who had a triple double with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 17 assists. Center Felicia Shaner added 21 points.
Coming into their last game of the season, the Lady Centurions (0-15) were missing three of their players to either injury or illness.
Forward Jackie Kramer, guard Brittany Johnson, and guard Sabrina Bellondorf were the ones missing. Kramer had suffered an injury from one a previous game and Johnson was out with an illness. Bellendorf also sustained an injury early in the game, but later returned. This left the Centurion bench with only one player.
Tahirah Williams scored 25 points for the Lady Centurions and guard Nichol Nasta scored 7 points in her last game as a Centurion.
“We just told each other, ‘Let’s just finish our last game the best that we can’ and that’s what I thought we did,” said Williams.
The Spartans dominated the Centurions from the opening whistle, outscoring them 50-12 in the first half as Aziz was active early and often.
The deck was stacked against the Centurions before the game had even started. First they were facing a team that was seeded first in their conference and were 12-0 at home.
In the second half the Centurions attempted to rally, but were met with stiff resistance as the Spartans continued to stretch their lead to 58-16.
Aziz and company seemed to tire out the Centurions as they ran the floor on every opportunity and with little bench help, the Centurions indeed look fatigued.
The Spartans would then go on a 16-2 run and a lead of 74-26 to put the game out of reach for the Lady Centurions.
Around the midway point of the half, the Centurions seemed to gather themselves a little and go on an 8-0 run.
Turnovers would put the brakes on the Centurion run though as the Spartans reasserted their dominance with a 17-0 run to grab a lead of 93-26.
The Spartans were tough on the glass that gave them plenty of second chance opportunities.
With fewer than three to play, the Spartans hit the century mark and showed no signs of slowing down as they coasted to the win.
The Spartans head coach Art Wolfe was asked about the game that night and responded by saying, “That’s our game, we are a running team very fast and up-tempo and Bucks did not give us too much of a challenge tonight.”
Centurion coach Sullivan said after the game, “They played with heart, but they were going up against a much better team and you could tell that they had been playing together a lot, while our team is still building.”