SHS comeback

Sikeston rallies from 12-point deficit to top Charleston

sports@standard-democrat.com

CHARLESTON -- Sikeston sophomore Mikala Nichols is used to putting up high-arcing shots. She, along with the rest of the Lady Bulldogs, have been practicing over their 6-9 head coach Matt Schonhoff for quite some time.

So when a wayward rebound happened to find her, she had no problem putting it back up against Charleston's Kasuela Cooper and E'Neikqua Ewing, who stand at 6-0 and 5-10.

"Coach has been putting his hands in our face during practice," Nichols said. "We have to put a lot of arch into our shots when he does that, like a teardrop. I just saw the goal and put it up."

Nichols' heave from seven-feet hit the glass and then the bottom of the net with 22 seconds left which turned out to be the game winner on Thursday as Sikeston pulled off a small comeback and escaped Charleston High School with a 73-71 win.

Tyangela Gibson scored a game high 32 points on 13 of 24 shooting for Sikeston as Quesha Howard added 21 points, five assists and five steals. Nichols, who pulled down eight rebounds, ended with five points, which were all scored in the fourth quarter.

Charleston was led by Cooper's 23 points. Ewing chipped in with 18 while Dazique Gillespie scored 14.

"I thought our girls played from the opening tip to the final buzzer extremely hard. They competed their tails off," Schonhoff said. "We got into some foul trouble and everybody that went in stepped up and played really good minutes."

After Cooper broke a 69-69 tie with an offensive put-back, Howard was fortunate enough to be put on the free throw line with a chance to tie.

Howard sank her first attempt but was off on the second. Nichols, somehow, came up with the rebound, which fell through nearly four pairs of arms and hands. Nichols slung a shot towards the basket almost instantly after catching it.

"I seen the ball, grabbed it and went up," Nichols said about the play. "Coach always tells us if we get the rebound, you go up with it.

"No matter what was in my face, I was still going to throw it up there."

In their haste to try and get down the floor, Charleston ended up throwing the ball away, which was their ninth turnover in the fourth quarter. The Lady Bluejays immediately fouled Nichols on the ensuing inbound play with 11.1 seconds remaining.

Charleston committed 15 turnovers in the second half after nine in the first half.

"We didn't value the ball enough," Charleston coach Josh Thompson said. "We tried to force the ball down the floor too much and that really came to fruition late in the game."

Nichols missed both her free throw attempts, but, again, Sikeston (14-8) came up with the offensive rebound. This time, Howard grabbed the loose ball and managed to get a pass to Nichols who was fouled again.

With 6.4 left, Nichols hit one of two at the line giving Charleston a chance to win or tie.

The Lady Bluejays hurried up the floor and gave it to Cooper who spotted up at the top of the key but her shot fell to the right of the rim as the buzzer sounded signaling the win for Sikeston, who clawed back from a 12 point deficit.

"Mikala (Nichols) got the loose ball, put it up over their trees and hit a free throw when we needed her to towards the end," Schonhoff said. "(Nichols) has had a good year, she's learning and this was just a really good team win."

Behind 10 points from Cooper, Charleston hurried out to an 18-11 lead after the first quarter. Although the Lady Bluejays shot just 30 percent (6 of 20) in the first frame, they were helped out by seven turnovers by Sikeston. The Lady Bulldogs coughed the ball up five times in the first three minutes.

Charleston (12-9) outscored the Lady Bulldogs 19-17 in the second period and held a 37-28 advantage at halftime.

Sikeston climbed back into the game in the third quarter, behind 11 points from Gibson and seven from Howard. The Lady Bulldogs tied Charleston three different times and was helped by a 9 of 17 shooting performance (52 percent) in the third frame.

Each team stood at 51-51 entering the final quarter.

"(Gibson) has been struggling with her shot recently and it was good to see her take some charge and take shots when we needed them," Schonhoff said about Gibson's career night. "When she's on, we're a different ball club. We can score points and it was good to see her take that leadership role."

Howard scored nine points in the fourth period which included 4 of 6 from the charity stripe. Gibson added six in the deciding frame.

"We've had the lead a lot in the late in games and we just hadn't been able to close games out," Thompson said. "There were little things that we can't allow to happen that happened. We commit a silly foul and miss two offensive rebounds down one point with 25 seconds to go. You can't have that happen."

Sikeston shot 50 percent in the second half and had just 10 turnovers compared to their 18 in the first two quarters.

"We never gave up," Nichols said. "We played with sisterhood and we played like a family. We never got frustrated and kept focus because we were going to win this game."

Sikeston 11 17 23 22 -- 73

Charleston 18 19 14 20 -- 71

SIKESTON (73) -- Tyangela Gibson 32, Quesha Howard 21, Aleah Little 7, Mikala Nichols 5, Taneshia Pulley 2, Yalonda Johnson 3, Danika Garmon 3. FG 28 FT 13-32 F 20 (3-pointers: Gibson 1, Howard 3. Fouled out: Johnson.)

CHARLESTON (71) -- Sierra Frazier 5, Juwanna Walker 4, Kasuela Cooper 23, E'Neikqua Ewing 18, Dazique Gillespie 14, Jameshia Hamilton 7. FG 25 FT 17-29 F 22 (3-pointers: Gillespie 4. Fouled out: Walker, Gillespie, Hamilton.)