Sikeston scrapes by Chaffee to advance to semifinals

~Lady Devils Invitational Tournament

CHAFFEE - The Sikeston Lady Bulldogs looked sluggish in the first round of the Lady Devils Invitational at Chaffee, muddling through the host team by just enough to move to the semifinals with a 39-33 win on Wednesday night.

Sikeston came into the tournament having not played in nine days and it showed throughout much of the contest with Chaffee.

"I take full responsibility for our performance tonight," said first-year Sikeston head coach Homer Jackson. "We were not prepared to play the game and that falls back on me. I will do a better job in the future of getting this team prepared to play a solid four quarters no matter the opponent."

The Lady Bulldogs struggled to score for three quarters against the Lady Devils zone defense and Sikeston was eight minutes away from being upset by the sixth seed. Chaffee led 20-19 entering the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, point guard Amber Minner and forward Keyarra Blissett took over for the Lady Bulldogs. Sikeston led 26-24 with four minutes to play when Minner scored six straight points and put Sikeston up 32-26 with two minutes remaining in the game.

Chaffee did not lay down, trailing by six late in the contest. Instead, the Lady Devils cut the lead to two with 1:30 to play, as sophomore Amber Kirk drove down the lane for two points and was fouled in the act. Kirk converted the conventional 3-point play and Chaffee was back in the game down by two.

On Sikeston's next offensive possession, Blissett worked hard under the basket and secured an offensive rebound and got the putback to put the Lady Bulldogs up 35-31.

Chaffee closed the gap back to two points with 50 seconds remaining on a Kirk 15-foot jump shot and Sikeston led 35-33. Once again on Sikeston's next possession, Blissett grabbed an offensive rebound and scored the lay-in to put Sikeston up 37-33 with 13 seconds left on the clock.

After a timeout, the Lady Devils tried to set up a shot on their offensive end, but Blissett stole the ball and went the other way for two points to seal the game.

"We finally got some shots to fall in that fourth quarter," said Jackson. "Blissett was missing the same shots in the first half that she hit in the fourth quarter. We have to work to make adjustments quicker and not be put in the situation in which we were in tonight. A win is a win, however, and we will take it and move forward."

Despite a tough night shooting the basketball, Sikeston stayed in the game with defense and rebounding. On the night, Sikeston outrebounded Chaffee 28-15 and 17-2 on the offensive glass.

Blissett led Sikeston with 12 points, 11 rebounds (eight offensive) and had five steals on the night. Latoya Gipson had 12 points despite facing a double-

teams all night, grabbed eight rebounds and tallied three blocks on the defensive end. Minner ended her night with eight points and four assists.

Chaffee's bench scored 16 of the Lady Devils' 33 points led by Kirk who had nine points. Senior starter Rachel Hendrix tied for the lead in points for Chaffee with nine points. Junior Whitney Schlosser had eight points and led the Lady Devils with five rebounds.

Sikeston (1-1) faces Kelly (2-0) tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the semifinals.

The Oran Lady Eagles defeated East Prairie in a consolation semifinal game, 65-39.

East Prairie hung tough with Oran despite committing 34 turnovers and getting out rebounded 32-22 (19-8 offensive) in the contest.

Oran led 30-21 at halftime, but East Prairie came out of the locker room and went inside to freshman Rianon Thesher who poured in seven points in the third quarter and helped East Prairie get back into the contest with a 7-1 run and closed the gap to 32-28 with six minutes to play in the third.

Oran responded over the next five minutes and ended the third quarter on a 14-2 run to go up 46-30 heading into the fourth.

Senior Tiffany Glastetter led Oran with 18 points and 10 rebounds (seven offensive).

Junior Callie Kielhofner was a sparkplug off the bench for Oran with 16 points, 10 steals, seven rebounds and had three assists. Wendy Eftink led Oran with five assists.

East Prairie was led in scoring by freshman Gracie Swann who had 18 points, 13 coming in the first half. Thesher ended her night with 11 points and a team-high five rebounds.

Oran (1-2) moves on to the consolation final on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and will meet the winner of Chaffee-Scott City.

In the nightcap, the Delta Lady Bobcats defeated the Scott County Central Bravettes 42-32 to advance to the tournament finals.

Poor shooting cost the Bravettes, as they managed only 13 points in the first half and 19 points through three quarters of action.

"We had our problems on the offensive end tonight," said Scott Central head coach Semona Penrod. "I thought we played reserved, especially on the offensive end. It was disappointing and frustrating the way we played."

Delta had little problems with the Scott Central press in the first half and was led by senior Kaci Menz who poured in 10 points at the break. To end the half, Menz hit a 3-pointer and made a rare 4-point play after she was fouled on the shot. Delta led 23-13 at halftime.

"You have to beat Scott Central's press if you expect to be in the game," said Randy White. "If you have problems with their press, they will beat you."

The Bravettes finally put some offensive pressure on the Lady Bobcats in the final quarter. After a scoreless first half, Scott Central's leading scorer Brittney Peet got hot in the fourth with nine of her 11 points coming in the quarter.

Scott Central got as close as 29-23 with 6:40 to play after scoring four straight to start the fourth quarter. Six points is as close as the Bravettes would get the rest of the way as Menz scored six straight for Delta to put the momentum back to the Lady Bobcats, leading 35-23 with five minutes remaining.

"Delta is a good team and we got a lesson on how to play basketball tonight," said Penrod. "We have a lot of work ahead of us."

Besides Peet's team-high 11 points, Samantha Jones had eight points and six rebounds. Amanda Lawless led the Bravettes with eight rebounds (six offensive).

Delta was led in scoring by Kaci Menz who had a game-high 19 points, with five steals and three rebounds. Sister Jodi Menz led the team with 13 rebounds and chipped in six points. Junior Sarah Keys had a nice all-around game for the Lady Bobcats with seven points, a game-high six assists and grabbed five rebounds.

Delta (4-0) advances to the finals on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. awaiting the winner of Sikeston-Kelly.

Scott Central (3-1) awaits the loser of Sikeston-Kelly for the third place game which will be played on Saturday at 3 p.m.