Centura downs Gothenburg.

CAIRO—Gothenburg girls basketball coach Tim Peterson is finding himself in a quandary.

He wants to play more girls off his bench so those on the floor don’t get too tired.

“If I don’t sub enough, we get worn down and that leads to bad quarters,” he said.

At the same time, the Swedes can’t afford to see a drop-off in production when Peterson goes to his bench.

“It’s kind of a double-edged sword,” he said.

Besides that, Peterson said, he’s still looking for the right combination of chemistry.

All that contributed, he said, to Gothenburg’s 54-36 loss to Centura Saturday.

“They’re a really good basketball team,” Peterson said of the Centurians. “And we’re not putting together four quarters of basketball.”

The Swedes fell behind 14-8 in the first period but Peterson said the deficit didn’t seem insurmountable.

Then Centura really caught fire.

“They outscored us 21-8 in the second quarter,” Peterson said. “Take out that bad spell and you’ve got a pretty close ball game.”

Centura held a 35-16 lead at halftime.

“It has nothing at all to do with a lack of effort,” Peterson said. “These girls give everything they have. It’s more a lack of execution.”

Swede senior Emily Max scored 19 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead Gothenburg.

The Swedes move to 3-7 on the season. This week they host Cozad (3-9) on Thursday and travel to Chase County (4-5) Friday.

“Cozad has good size and they’re much improved from last year,” Peterson said. “Chase County has been a bit of a surprise. They have small numbers but they’re a solid team. These are games we should win but we’re going to have to bring our A game for both.”