Centennial’s Hicks hits her mark center stage in rout of Coronado

With three Division I signees on her team last season, it wasn’t easy for Teirra Hicks to shine.

The Centennial senior had no such problem Wednesday.

Hicks poured in 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs to an 81-45 win at Coronado.

“You never know what you’re going to get, but there’s one thing that is 100 percent guaranteed, and that’s that she’s going to go 110 percent every single game,” said Centennial coach Karen Weitz. “She’s always going to go hard. She wants to win.”

Hicks, who made her first seven shots from the field, finished 10 of 12 shooting, but spent as much time attempting to distribute the ball to teammates as she did shooting.

Centennial had four seniors who signed with four-year schools last year, including three with high-level Division I programs. And Hicks often was overshadowed, although she showed enough solid play to gain college interest. The 5-foot-8-inch forward/guard has signed to play at UC Irvine.

“The people this year respect one another and what each person can bring to the game, and think that has always been in Teirra,” Weitz said.

Coronado had no answer for her on Wednesday. Hicks racked up her totals in just 19 minutes, 6 seconds of court time as Centennial rotated through 11 players.

Her basket in the paint with 1:39 left in the third quarter gave her 21 points, and gave Centennial a 57-21 lead.

The Bulldogs (2-1) also got solid contributions from guards Tramina Jordan and Paige Barber. Jordan hit three 3-pointers and finished with 13 points. Barber scored 10.

A night removed from a 60-44 loss to Desert Hills (Utah), the Bulldogs did almost everything well, but committed 26 turnovers.

“We’re spending a lot of time right now catching our new kids up,” Weitz said. “I have to be patient right now and just remember that a preseason game is a preseason game.

“I’m trying to get everybody in as much as I can right now to see what we have.”

Coronado, though, couldn’t take advantage.

The Cougars (4-2) missed their first 19 3-point attempts and shot just 12 of 54 from the field.

Grace Green led Coronado with 15 points, and teammate Dajah Washington scored 11.