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ORAN -- Thursday night's contest between the Oran Lady Eagles and the Charleston Lady Bluejays could be described as a tale of two halves. Despite a strong second half performance by Oran, it was not enough to overcome its offensive woes of the first half and the Lady Bluejays came away victorious, 62-51.
Oran shot only 23 percent from the field in the first half, and although they had several second and third chances, they often failed to convert.
The Lady Eagles headed into the locker room with only 15 points on the scoreboard and facing an 18 point deficit.
"We didn't shoot well in the first half," said Oran head coach Adam Friga. "They usually rebound well, so I think we did a good job getting second chance opportunities, we just came out cold."
The Lady Eagles came out shooting much better in the second half, as well as limiting the turnovers which plagued them in the first half.
"We like to play fast and want to press, and they did a real good job of breaking the press in the second half," Minner said.
Despite trailing by as many as 20 points early in the third quarter, the Lady Eagles were able to rally to within 10 points following an Abbey Anderson 3-pointer with 6:44 left in the contest.
"We thought we had them wore down at halftime, but they came out and cut it to ten points in the fourth quarter," Charleston head coach Michael Minner said.
Oran would come within ten points once more with five minutes left in the game, but that was as close as they would get. Charleston was able to buckle down defensively and close out the game, never letting the Lady Eagles cut the lead to single-digits.
"We had to get out of our press late, but we did a good enough job to get a win. Sometimes that's what it takes," Minner said. ""They're well coached. Adam [Friga] does a good job with them, and any time we can put up a win that's a bonus for us."
Although the game was highlighted by ice-cold shooting at times, it also featured some dominant individual performances. Jerquawnda Sherrell led the Lady Bluejays in the first half with 15 points, including four 3-pointers. She would finish the game with 19. In the second half, Kasuela Cooper took over the scoring duties for Charleston, scoring 16 of her team-high 21 points in the final two quarters.
Despite getting in some early foul trouble, Cheyanne King had a game-high 25 points for the Lady Eagles, 19 of which came in the second half.
"King was in foul trouble early, so we had to fight to keep our head above water," Friga said. "She had a big second half and we outscored [Charleston in the second half]."
The Lady Bluejays improve to 13-4 on the season, while the Lady Eagles fall to 7-8. Charleston will host Scott County Central on Monday night while Oran will travel to Woodland.
Charleston 20 13 16 13 -- 62
Oran 9 6 19 17 -- 51
CHARLESTON (62) -- Jerquawnda Sherrell 19, Chelsie Lane 9, Taylor Duenne 3, Kasuela Cooper 21, Lakiesha Wilson 2, Jasmine Spence 6, Eneikqua 2. FG 25. F 10. (3-pointers: Sherrell 4, Duenne 1. Fouled out: none.)
ORAN (51) -- Cheyanne King 25, Taylor Irwin 2, Haley Glastetter 4, Abbey Anderson 19, Shelby Unger 1. FG 23. F 15. (3-pointers: Anderson 2. Fouled out: none.)