SIKESTON -- It was the Sikeston Lady Bulldogs who were queens of the court in a dominating 50-20 win over the Twin Rivers Lady Royals on Monday at the Field House.
An energized first-half by the Lady Bulldogs settled this one early.
"The girls played excellent," said Sikeston coach Tiffany King. "They hustled and played team ball. We've been stressing teamwork and leadership and we got that tonight."
After Sikeston (8-11) went up 5-0, Twin Rivers (3-15) scored its only field goal of the first half, a 3-pointer, to close to 5-3. Then the Lady Bulldogs reeled off a 13-0 run to close the quarter with an 18-3 advantage. The run doubled to 26-0 through the second quarter until the Lady Royals broke the drought with a free throw with 2:34 left in the period.
Sikeston led 38-5 at the half.
Leading the Bulldogs' first-half assault was freshman Martika Davis with 13 of her game-high 18 points and freshman point guard Amber Minner with all of her 11 points.
Davis, who scored on numerous putbacks, and junior Robyn Morris controlled the boards with 13 and 12 rebounds, respectively.
Said King, "In the first half, when we didn't hit the shot we got the offensive rebound and scored off many of them."
On the defensive end, a full-court zone press and an aggressive 2-3 zone defense was a key to the Lady Bulldogs' huge first half.
"Our press was very effective," said King. "The girls were in the right spots and it took them out of their game."
For the game, Twin Rivers found the range on only 1-of-24 3-point attempts and 6-of-20 2's, while Sikeston shot 50 percent inside the arc (16-of-32) and 4-of-25 -- two each from Ali Blurton and Minner -- from long range.
Blurton was the defensive catalyst with five steals.
The pace slowed somewhat in the second half as Twin Rivers outscored the Lady Bulldogs 15-12.
"We played hard and finished (the first half) strong," said King, of her team's sluggish second-half effort, "and they just got a little tired in the third quarter. When you get tired physically, that also affects you mentally."
Neither team fared well from the charity stripe. Sikeston was 6-for-15; Twin Rivers 5-for-12.
In the junior varsity contest, Twin Rivers expanded a 17-13 halftime lead into a 41-21 win.
Lashawna Turner led the Lady Bulldogs with nine points. Sikeston visits Oran for a jv/varsity doubleheader on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.