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SHS girls roll past Cape
SIKESTON - The Sikeston Lady Bulldogs basketball team finished off their regular season schedule with a 56-40 victory over the visiting Cape Central Lady Tigers.
A big second quarter by Sikeston proved to be the difference in the contest, as the Lady Bulldogs out scored the Lady Tigers 25-10. Sikeston hit five 3-
pointers in the quarter, led by Allison Blurton who hit four 3's in the second.
"The girls had a slow start tonight," said Sikeston head coach Fred Johnson. "We had some problems putting the ball in the hole in the first against Cape's zone defense. The girls kept working hard and we finally figured out the zone. Once we get going, we were all right."
The Lady Bulldogs started off sluggish in the first quarter and Cape Central took advantage with a 14-13 lead at the end of the quarter. Tierra Walker and Dani Gross each had four points in the first.
Sophomore Martika Davis led Sikeston in the first with six points and Whitney McCray chipped in with three points. The Lady Tigers played a 2-3 zone on Sikeston, which seemed to take the Lady Bulldogs off guard. Blurton did not score in the first, as her shot was off in the quarter.
Sikeston stormed past the Lady Tigers in the second quarter, as the Lady Bulldogs went on a 10-2 run and led 26-20 with 4:30 to play in the quarter. Besides Blurton's four 3-pointers in the second, sophomore Amber Minner pumped in a three of her own to get Sikeston going in the quarter.
Bench play was a major factor for Sikeston's run in the second. Freshman Keyarra Blissett and junior Jessica McCray were offensive and defensive forces for the Lady Bulldogs. Blissett had six points, four rebounds, two assists and two blocks in the second quarter. McCray had four rebounds and three assists in the quarter for Sikeston.
Blurton ended the first half for Sikeston, by hitting the last of her four 3-
pointers at the buzzer. Jessica McCray made the shot happen, with a good inbound pass to Blurton with 1.6 seconds left in the half. Sikeston led 38-24 heading into halftime.
Courtney Schuessler scored eight of her 10 first half points in the second quarter, to lead Cape Central in scoring at the half.
In addition to Blurton's 12 points at halftime, Blurton also had four assists to lead Sikeston. Davis had 10 points, four rebounds and two blocks. Minner finished the first half with seven points for Sikeston.
"We hit some big shots in the second quarter," said Johnson, "but it was the inside play of Martika (Davis) and Whitney (McCray) that opened up the outside shot. Cape started to back off our shooters to help inside and we did a good job of finding the open shooter."
Sikeston put the game away early in the third quarter, with six quick points from Whitney McCray down in the paint. The Lady Bulldogs outscored Cape Central 14-7 in the third and led 52-31 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Bulldogs cruised in the fourth and notched the last home win of the season over the Lady Tigers, 56-40.
"The girls showed some positive things and didn't panic early on in the game," said Johnson. "Our seniors played well tonight and our underclassmen stepped up at times tonight."
Three seniors played their last regular season game in a Sikeston uniform. Blurton, Whitney McCray and Paige Silverthorn were honored before the start of the varsity game on Senior Night.
Blurton ended the game with 16 points, five assists and three rebounds for the Lady Bulldogs. Whitney McCray had 11 points and 10 rebounds (six offensive). Silverthorn had two points, three rebounds and two steals for Sikeston.
Besides the seniors, Davis ended the night for Sikeston with 10 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Minner had nine points and three assists. Blissett had eight points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals off the bench for the Lady Bulldogs.
Schuessler led Cape Central with 10 points. Walker had seven points and six rebounds.
Wendi Zickfield, a 6-foot-2 freshman for the Lady Tigers, had five points, seven rebounds, three blocks and three steals.
Sikeston controlled the boards against Cape Central 36-20 and had 13 offensive rebounds, compared to nine for the Lady Tigers. The Lady Bulldogs had 18 assists, while Cape Central ended up with seven assists as a team. The Lady Bulldogs committed 13 turnovers and had nine steals as a team. Cape Central also had 13 turnovers and nine steals.
Sikeston (18-6) will participate in the Class 4, District 1 tournament, which will be held at the Sikeston Field House. The Lady Bulldogs received the No. 5 seed and will face No. 4 seed Notre Dame next Tuesday at 6 p.m.