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Sikeston races past Charleston in front of big home crowd
SIKESTON -- The Sikeston girls basketball team didn't disappoint its biggest fan base to date as it cruised to a 63-22 win over Charleston on Thursday.
A campaign to "Fill the Field House" prior to Thursday night's contest urged community members, fans, student organizations and anyone in between to attend Sikeston's game against it's rival.
The results were estimated to be over 1,000 people in attendance -- by far the biggest crowd Sikeston girls basketball has had during the regular season.
"Thank you to everybody that came," Sikeston head coach Matt Schonhoff said. "It's something that we have always talked about with our program since I've been here. It was something that was a welcomed sight. We loved having the crowd, but we need it again. We need it for our last three home games. Our girls deserve it and we're a good basketball team. Hopefully our town recognized that and will come back for more. We'll definitely go as hard as we can to make our town and our school proud."
The crowd on hand witnessed Sikeston's 11th win in a row -- a school record that continues to climb. Sikeston also inched closer to tying the school record for wins which was a mark set in 2006 at 18. Sikeston is now 17-4 on the year.
Erica Peet set the tone early with 10 points in the first quarter and 13 in the first half. She ended up leading Sikeston with 14 points and six rebounds and three steals. Tyeshia Mitchell added 13 points and six rebounds as well.
This was a good test for us," Schonhoff said. "A lot of our parents did a lot of advertising for this game for the success that we've had. We played well. We didn't play our best, but it was a learning experience for us. A win is a win."
Sikeston's in-your-face pressure defense was the main culprit of Charleston's misfortunes. Charleston was forced into 40 turnovers and shot 30 percent (8 of 26) from the floor. Sierra Frazier and Sharell Woods each paced the Bluejays with seven points.
"Not a good night," Charleston head coach Josh Thompson said about facing Sikeston's pressure. "We had a few kids in spots that they aren't really ready for. (Sierra) Frazier usually handles the ball for us tonight and she had a few too many turnovers too. She got in some foul trouble and then the kids that replaced her tried to do some of the same things that she does. She can do it and other people don't have the experience to do that. We tried to go one-on-one, one-on-two and it didn't work out for us."
Feeding off the energetic crowd to start, Sikeston sped out to a 6-0 advantage. Charleston settled in shortly after to tie the game at 7-all after a Frazier free throw, but many early fouls sent Sikeston to the free throw line and derailed any Charleston momentum.
The Bulldogs were in the bonus with 3:48 left in the first quarter and Peet scored the first quarter's final seven points to put Sikeston ahead 18-7.
Charleston (15-6) was fresh off the heels of losing one of their more significant games the night before to Chaffee which sealed the Scott-Mississippi Conference regular season crown. Charleston, who won the conference tournament in mid-January, have lost their last two games after rattling off three-straight wins against district foe Kelly, Oran and Scott County Central.
"We were a little down after last night," Thompson said about Charleston's 80-74 loss to Chaffee the night before. "This was a big game for Sikeston. Our season is winding down and we know where we're at in district's right now and we're trying to look at the bigger picture. Next Saturday is when we have to start peaking."
Sikeston wasn't without their struggles either. The Bulldogs shot 38 percent (19 of 50) from the floor and committed 21 turnovers with most misses coming from around the basket.
"We talked about being in the moment and allowing the crowd to energize you and fuel that fire," said Schonhoff. "We have to do a better job of stopping those careless turnovers and making our layups. If we made our layups it would have been over at halftime. It's just a learning experience for us and it was a test that we needed. It was good."
Sikeston's defense managed to curb any chance of a Charleston comeback, however, leading 32-16 at halftime.
"That's been our thing all year," Schonhoff said. "If teams can handle our pressure then it's going to be a good ball game. We're very quick in certain areas in our press and halfcourt defense. We have girls that can read passes and have quick hands. We're well-balanced from top to bottom."
Charleston was held to six points the entire second half scoring five in the third and one in the fourth. Sikeston led by 29 points heading into the final frame.
"We had instances where we were good," said Schonhoff said. "Everybody has to pick each other up and we did that throughout the game."
Charleston has two games remaining on its schedule before starting the Class 3, District 2 tournament on Feb. 21 at Scott City High School. The Bluejays were given the third seed behind Arcadia Valley (20-2) and undefeated and state-ranked Saxony Lutheran (23-0)
"Really I think our defense hasn't been at the level that we want it to be," said Thompson. "We let Chaffee score 80 points and that's something we shouldn't have let them do. We know where we're at in our district and we just need focus more than anything else. This is our third game this week and this is a busy week for our kids."
Sikeston's four remaining games include two SEMO Conference games against Cape Central (Feb. 18) and Dexter (Feb. 26). The Bulldogs are 4-0 in conference play and are tied with Dexter, who is also undefeated in the conference.
Sikeston will take on Portageville Feb. 16 at the Field House with junior varsity starting at 6 p.m.
"We're in a good spot," Schonhoff said. "We still have two conference games yet and we're still one game at a time. We talk about the bigger, overall picture but we definitely go one game at a time."
| Charleston | 7 | 9 | 5 | 1 | -- | 22 |
| Sikeston | 18 | 14 | 18 | 13 | -- | 63 |
CHARLESTON (22) -- Sierra Frazier 7, Juwanna Walker 3, Cheyenne Randle 4, Chanelle Quinn 1, Sharell Woods 7. FG 8, FT 5-13, F 32. (3-pointers: Walker 1. Fouled out: Frederica Evans, Randle, Woods.)
SIKESTON (63) -- Kiera Steward 8, Dominique Roach 5, Tyra Bonner 7, Larysa McClellon 6, Zayteanna Williams 3, Erica Peet 14, Arianna Beard 2, Miranda Harrison 4, Tyeshia Mitchell 13. FG 19, FT 24-45, F 20. (3-pointers: Bonner 1. Fouled out: none.)