BROSLEY - After a dismal first quarter, with Sikeston only scoring two points, the Lady Bulldogs pulled out a 35-21 victory against Greenville's Lady Bears (6-4) in the second round of the Lady Royals' Holiday Classic.
"We started really slow," said Sikeston coach Lee Brooks, whose team improves to 5-3. "I think it was mainly because of the morning game on Saturday. I just wanted to get them through the second half because I knew they would be sluggish."
Junior Jennifer Medlin stepped up in the second half as she dropped in 11 points, three of which came on a trey.
The other major factor for Sikeston on the night was the Lady Bulldogs' defense.
"We played very well on defense tonight," said Coach Brooks. "I thought our two girls in the middle did a good job defending and I thought we guarded the perimeter well."
Due to Sikeston's menacing defense, Greenville was unable to hit a field goal in the entire third quarter. The Lady Bears only had three buckets in all of the second half.
Another main point for Sikeston on the night was its free throw shooting. The Lady Bulldogs were 6-8 in the second half.
Sikeston will be playing Senath-Hornersville on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. for first place in the Red Division.
Senath's Lady Lions came out strong and scored 13 points in the first quarter. NMCC (1-6) buckled under Senath's defense and was only able to muster a single basket, which came at the very beginning of the period.
"We didn't have school today and I thought that hurt us," said NMCC's coach Wayne Early. "We didn't play on both ends tonight and that also really hurt us."
The Lady Eagles exploded though in the second frame as Stacy Smith and Shanika McHand combined for 13 points to lead NMCC to within one point at the half.
Senath held a 22-21 lead going into the third quarter.
New Madrid came out shooting poorly in the third period as they could only total three points, while Senath's Jennifer Montgomery totaled eight points by herself in the frame.
Six of Montgomery's eight points came from behind the arc.
The Lady Eagles again attempted to rally in the fourth quarter, but the charge was cut short as the Lady Lions took the 41-35 win.
"We are improving every day," quoted Early. "We have a lot of young kids that are still learning the game. We are not making mistakes that we made three games ago. I don't know if anyone else can see it, but I can."
After leading 25-20 at the half, Charleston's Lady Blue Jays "went flat" in the second half as described by Blue Jay Coach Beverly Wright.
"They stalled the ball in the second half and we had a big problem putting rebounds back in the goal," added Wright.
Charleston's main problem on the night was the shooting of Lady Royal Amanda Lance.
The sophomore dropped in 28 points to lead all scorers and to lead Twin Rivers into the championship in the Blue division.
Sophomore Missy Whitney was the leading scorer for Charleston as she totaled 12 points on the night.
This was Charleston's first loss of the season as their record now falls to 8-1.