Central's win Monday night marked the middle tilt in a string of three games in four days. But the way coach Kevin Kelley's thinking, that's fine. He'll play 10 -- players.

The veteran coach appears ready to deploy all 10 of the players on his varsity rostor, a trend that started in earnest during the second day of the Hillyard City Basketball Showcase last month.

Mired in a losing skid, Kelley went all the way to reserve sophomore Mercedes Estes in a win against Lafayette, and the Indians appear ready to use that approach when necessary.

Monday's game showed why.

Leading scorer Bailey Griffin went scoreless until late in the fourth quarter, but nine players figured in the scoring. Central's bench nearly outscored the starters (21-19), and starter Anissa DeMarr and reserve Kaitlin Siela tied for the team-high with 10 apiece.

At one point in the third quarter, Kelley had all five reserves in before subbing the starters en masse.

"I felt like we got contributions from everybody that we put on the floor," Kelley said. "Boy, that makes it tough, and the other thing I thought is it wears teams down if each one of them will come in and really play hard knowing they're going to get a rest."

Quick thoughts:

-- Claire Humphreys epitomized Central's balance. The senior starter tallied the first basket for the Indians on a back-door layup, then didn't score the rest of the way.

-- Central led wire-to-wire and never really seemed threatened, but a little free-throw shooting could have made this one a no-brainer. The Indians shot just 4 of 13 from the line, making just 1 of 6 during the first half and 3 of 7 in the fourth quarter.

-- Like the players and coaches expressed afterward, it was nice for the Indians to avenge the earlier loss.

I left Central High School wondering how Lee's Summit North won the first one. Central clearly looked like the better team.

Annie Sayers and Codi Fritchie combined for 25 the first time, but Sayers had only nine amidst foul trouble while Fritchie went scoreless this time.