Lady Jays to face Kennett in finals

Charleston coach Michael Minner (center) celebrates with his players after Charleston defeated Scott City 57-55 in the Class 3, District 1 semifinals Tuesday night in Kennett. David Jenkins, Staff

KENNETT -- Charleston girls basketball coach Michael Minner says every day in practice his team works on fast-break drills. On Tuesday night, they paid off in a big way as Charleston defeated Scott City 57-55 in the semifinals of the Class 3, District 1 Tournament.

With the clock ticking down and the game tied 55-55, Charleston's Jasmine Spence pulled down a rebound and tossed it to point guard Jerquawnda Sherrell. The senior sprinted down the floor and put up a running layup over Scott City's Holli Shemonia that went in, giving Charleston a 57-55 lead with under 10 seconds remaining.

"I was thinking 'I don't know what is going on but please let this shot go in,'" Sherrell said.

The game was far from over as Scott City, out of timeouts, threw the ball down the floor and had a good look from five feet out. However, the ball slipped out of the hands of sophomore Katie Hogan as she began to shoot and when she came back to the floor she was called for a travel with 0.7 seconds left, sealing a 57-55 win for Charleston

"I had to burn some timeouts and left us with none there late," said Scott City coach Kerry Thompson. "It is my job to at least keep one, and normally I do but I thought there were times we needed them earlier in the game."

Charleston trailed for most of the game, but a frantic second half comeback, spurred by their pressure defense, paid off in the fourth quarter.

Trailing 41-36 heading into the final frame, Charleston went on a 9-0 run, including a 3-pointer by Sherrell that gave the Lady Bluejays a 45-41 lead with 5:42 remaining.

Scott City answered with six-straight points to regain the lead but two free throws from Sherrell tied the game again at 47-47. After a Stacey Heisserer basket, Taylor Duenne hit a 3-pointer from the right wing, giving Charleston the lead 50-49.

"With all the complaining I always do to officials, she walked and they didn't call it and then drained it," Minner said. "Every once and a while you need some breaks and we took advantage of breaks."

Scott City fought back and took a 53-52 lead when senior Stephanie Essner drained a 3-pointer of her own with 1:50 remaining. Thirty seconds later, Heisserer scored again and the Lady Rams held a 55-52 lead. But Charleston wouldn't quit, as Jasmine Spence scored with 1:09 remaining and Kasuela Cooper hit one-of-two free throws to tie the game with 41 seconds remaining, setting up the frantic last 15 seconds.

"I couldn't be more proud of a group of kids," Minner said. "We could've hung our heads, we could've laid down. In the first half we got in foul trouble. We kept shooting, we took care of business and at the end we didn't call timeouts and let our kids be kids and be athletes and they got the job done."

The first half belonged to Scott City as the Lady Rams jumped out to a 16-8 lead after one quarter. The Lady Rams led 31-22 at halftime as both teams experienced foul problems. Scott City played most of the second quarter without Hogan and Charleston's Cooper spent most of the second quarter on the bench as well.

While Charleston was searching for offense, Scott City found theirs with Essner. The senior point guard scored 16 of her team-high 20 points in the first half.

"I thought (Essner) played exceptional in the first half," Thompson said. "That's the reason we had the lead. I really felt OK at halftime. We saved Katie in the first half and Ashley (Brant) in the first half and I thought we were OK. I knew they were going to turn up the pressure and I really thought we'd react well to that."

Unfortunately for Scott City, the Charleston pressure forced numerous Scott City turnovers in the second half, helping bring the Lady Bluejays back into the game. The pressure also wore down the Lady Rams and helped take Essner out of the game in the third quarter.

"In the first half we tried to do some new things and it wasn't what we've done," Minner said. "We went back to what we've done all year in the second half and got after it and you could see (Essner) was tired. We got after it defensively and we played the way we can play.

Our press was tremendous. That was the thing in the first half, we didn't hit shots. During the second half we gave them fits and you could tell they used all their time outs and they were out of gas. That is a tribute to our kids and how hard they have worked. They are in great shape and it showed there at the end."

Charleston forced Scott City into 13 second half turnovers as many were turned into layups on the other end, giving the Lady Bluejays more and more confidence as they continued to cut into the Scott City lead.

"We have always been a comeback team," Sherrell said. "We just had to focus on not giving up in the locker room at halftime because we're a second half team. We just did what we do and played hard and played our game."

Sherrell finished with a game-high 22 points. Cooper finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds, many coming in the second half.

While Essner led Scott City with 20 points, Hogan chipped in 11 points to go along with her 14 rebounds. Scott City finishes the season with a record of 19-7. The Lady Rams will lose seven seniors: Essner, Brant, Shemonia, Macy Heisserer, Tiffany Merritt, Kelly Holder and Kristen Keesee.

"They're champions," Thompson said of his seniors. "They may not hoist the trophy this year but that is what they are. They are good young ladies and they are going to make something of themselves."

While Scott City's season is over, Charleston will face Kennett in the district championship game at 6 p.m. on Friday night. Kennett has defeated Charleston twice this season, 75-58 on Dec. 22 and 55-48 on Feb. 18.

"Hopefully the old adage that it's hard to beat a good team three times come true," Minner said. "We are 20-5 and we just keep talking about where we've come from. I won't ever forget where we came from. We started this four years ago when I took over and we've just battled our tails off and continue to get better and this is just another step along the way. We'll keep working and hopefully the ball falls our way Friday night."

SCOTT CITY (55) -- Stacey Heisserer 8, Stephanie Essner 20, Melanie Lacey 6, Katie Hogan 11, Holli Shemonia 1, Macy Heisserer 1, Ashley Brant 7, Emily Echols 1. FG 20, FT 11-18, F 16. (3-pointers: Essner 4, Hogan 1. Fouled out: Brant).

CHARLESTON (57) -- Jerquawnda Sherrell 22, Taylor Duenne 3, Kasuela Cooper 13, Lakiesha Wilson 8, Jasmine Spence 6, Eneikqua Ewing 5. FG 22, FT 8-18, F 18. (3-pointers: Sherrell 4, Duenne 1. Fouled out: none).

Kennett 64, NMCC 51

Kennett used a strong third quarter to put away the New Madrid County Central Eagles 64-51 in the other semifinal game Tuesday night.

NMCC built a 11-6 lead after one quarter and led 16-6 with six minutes left in the first half. But Kennett's Jerica Wheeler took over, scoring 13 of her game-high 33 points in the second quarter as the Lady Indians tied the game 27-27 at halftime.

"I thought we played really well the first quarter," said NMCC coach David Crockett. "I thought they played the way they are capable of playing and they executed the game plan. The second quarter we got a little lax and tried to slow it down and that's a hard style for us to play. We don't like a slow-it-down game.

"The third quarter we just came out of the locker room flat and (Kennett) came out fired up. They wanted to win more than we did."

Kennett outscored the Lady Eagles 21-7 in the quarter, which included a 10-0 run in a span of just over two minutes. NMCC tried to get back into the game in the fourth quarter but could never get closer than seven points (49-42).

"(Kennett) deserved to win," Crockett said. "They played a better game than we did. We've come a long way since I've been here. We ended the season at 14-11, but we definitely gained some respect from different coaches and different teams and we're definitely headed in the right direction."

NMCC was led in scoring by Jasimane Flennoy and Tameika Williams who both scored 16 points apiece. Flennoy also pulled down 11 rebounds and Williams nine. Freshman Benesha Childress added 13 points and pulled down nine rebounds.

The Lady Eagles will lose six seniors (Flennoy, Williams, Tynisha Brown, Jaleesa Newson, Jasmine Collins and Toriyana Winfield) but return several underclassmen who saw significant playing time.

"I like what I have coming back," Crockett said. "We have a good mixture of guards and post players and we are going to add some more to it. I think the future looks bright for our program.

NEW MADRID COUNTY CENTRAL (51) -- Tameika Williams 16, Dallas Campbell 2, Benesha Childress 13, Jasimane Flennoy 16, Karen McGloson 4. FG 20, FT 6-14, F 23. (3-pointers: Williams 3, Childress 2. Fouled out: McGloson).

KENNETT (64) -- Alexandra Brown 2, Jerica Wheeler 33, MacKenzie Carr 7, Veronica Amos 7, Caroline Shetley 9, Brittney Williams 6. FG 22 FT 19-24, F 11. (3-pointers: Wheeler 1. Fouled out: none).