Lady Jays take down Caruthersville

sports@standard-democrat.com

CHARLESTON -- In their final tuneup before the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament, the Charleston Lady Bluejays rode a dominant third quarter to a 67-24 win over visiting Caruthersville.

"We didn't come out and play very well in the first half," Charleston head coach Josh Thompson said. "We missed a lot of easy shots and didn't handle the ball an awful lot. The third quarter we really turned it on and played like we should play."

Charleston's Sierra Frazier takes the ball away from Caruthersville's Shamera Cobb Thursday, Jan. 9, at Charleston High School. (Brent Shipman photo)

Charleston's Sierra Frazier takes the ball away from Caruthersville's Shamera Cobb Thursday, Jan. 9, at Charleston High School. (Brent Shipman photo)

Despite a turnover prone first half, the Lady Bluejays still managed to keep the Lady Tigers in their rearview thanks to a 12-4 start.

Caruthersville closed within eight, at 22-14, midway through the second quarter, but a 12-2 run by the Lady Bluejays to end the half sent them to the locker room with a comfortable 18-point advantage.

Whatever chance Caruthersville had at a comeback was quickly erased when Charleston came out of the half with a dominant six minute stretch.

They held the Lady Tigers scoreless while scoring 19-straight points, including three buckets from Cheyenne Randle and a pair each from Juwanna Walker and Sierra Frazier.

Mariah Jackson scored from the paint with 2:08 left in the period to end Caruthersville's drought, but by the end of the quarter Charleston outscored the Lady Tigers 25-3.

Charleston's Cheyenne Randle and Caruthersville's Myrical Jones chase down a loose ball Thursday, Jan. 9, at Charleston High School. (Brent Shipman photo)

Charleston's Cheyenne Randle and Caruthersville's Myrical Jones chase down a loose ball Thursday, Jan. 9, at Charleston High School. (Brent Shipman photo)

"We just talked about playing a full four quarters," Thompson said of his team's discussion during halftime. "We've been playing down to some people and not being ready to play. We need to make sure we always come to play, that way, we can't turn that switch on and off. It always has to be on and we're ready to go."

Leading Charleston on the night was Randle with a game-high 18 points while Walker was close behind with 16. Frazier finished the night with 12 points, eight in the third quarter alone and Natalie Groves became the fourth Lady Bluejay in double-digits with 11 points.

Randle, Walker and Frazier all scored theirs before the fourth quarter.

For Caruthersville, Shamera Cobb had a team-high 10 points.

The win leaves Charleston a perfect 2-0 at home and 6-3 on the season. Seeded-second, they'll open up the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament on Tuesday at 5 p.m. when they play seventh-seeded Scott City.

All tournament games will be played at Scott County Central High School.

"We're playing pretty well," Thompson said. "We need to make some more free throws and more easy shots, but we're getting good shots and playing really good defense. We still need to work on rebounding.

"We're going to have a tough matchup with Scott City. We only beat them by 12 at home last time and if we're we're lucky enough to win that we'll play Scott Central, who are the defending conference champions."

Caruthersville 6 10 3 5 -- 24

Charleston 17 17 25 8 -- 67

CARUTHERSVILLE (24) -- Shamera Cobb 10, Myrical Jones 4, Kivauna Hopkin 2, Mariah Jackson 6. FG 10, FT 2-12, F 17. (3-pointers: Cobb 2. Fouled out: none.)

CHARLESTON (67) -- Natalie Groves 11, Sierra Frazier 12, Keana Horton 2, Juwanna Walker 16, Cheyenne Randle 18, Chanelle Quinn 2, Alexis Hamilton 2, Monyshia Haynes 2, Reagan Adkins 2. FG 29, FT 9-19, F 14. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none.)