BEAUMONT — It didn’t take long for Central’s Lady Jaguars to pull away from the Memorial in Friday afternoon’s 63-42 victory over the Lady Titans.

With the score 9-7 at 3:34 to play in the first quarter, the Lady Jags went on a 21-5 run through the middle of the second quarter, completely killing Memorial’s will.

With the loss, the Titans fall to 6-3 on the season and will not be back in action until Friday when they host Nederland at 6 p.m.

Memorial head coach Joe Fonteneaux said his team gets into too much of a hurry against other athletic teams.

“Instead of keeping composure and slowing things down against teams that are athletic like we are,” Fonteneaux said, “we just run down the floor and take the first shot we can get off.”

That was Memorial’s exact problem against the Jags.

The way both teams were moving up and down the floor, the game resembled a great ping-pong match, only Central was scoring, while Memorial was laying bricks.

The Titans only lead of the game came in the opening two minutes when Memorial’s Amber Kinlaw nailed a three-pointer to open the game. Then Kinlaw’s teammate, Kandice Smith followed with a bucket to give the Titans a 5-2 lead.

But Central scored the next five points to take a 7-5 lead and never looked back.

Kinlaw finished the game with 12 points and Smith added 10 points. But no one outscored Central’s Kritrina Harris who dropped 23 points on the Titans.

Memorial never had an answer for Harris or Larissa Williams who scored all 12 of her points from the paint.

“We gave them too many opportunities,” Fontenaux said. “They outrebounded us all night, especially on offense, and we never found any rhythm on offense.”

The Titans started the season 6-1 but lost their last two.

“They are a good (Central) team,” Fontenaux said. “That’s why I scheduled these teams at this point in the season. If we are going to get anywhere in the playoffs, I knew we were going to need to face these kind of teams for us to get better.”

Memorial’s Sasha Charles and Katherine Henderson both finished the game with six points.

In other basketball action, Memorial boys dropped a close, 82-76 game to Northshore at Strake Jesuit in Houston.

With the loss, the Titans fall to 2-2 on the season.

Memorial plays at Strake Jesuit again today when it squares square off with Smiley at 5 p.m.