Despite offensive struggles, Bravettes take down Woodland 48-37

Friday, February 3, 2017
Scott County Central's Samantha Coffee is blocked by Woodland's Maddison Altenthal in a high school basketball game Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017, at Scott County Central High School.

SIKESTON -- It wasn't the prettiest game Scott County Central head coach Matt Limbaugh has ever seen, but his Bravettes got the job done.

Scott Central saw its way through a rough shooting night by gaining an edge around the basket against visiting Woodland Thursday during a 48-37 victory.

Freshman Samantha Coffee led the Bravettes with 20 points on 7 of 16 shooting and 12 rebounds. Hailey Kesler and Johneisha Daniel each finished with eight points. Kesler added seven rebounds and three steals while Daniel added 10 rebounds.

Scott County Central's Trinity Thomas drives around Woodland's Lainey Long in a high school basketball game Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017, at Scott County Central High School.

The Bravettes shot 29 percent (19 for 66) from the floor but were physical inside when it came to rebounding and getting shots to fall when they needed them the most.

"Overall it was a very sloppy game," Limbaugh said. "Not very exciting for the fans in the stands, kind of slow paced down and back and a lot of missed shots from the field and that's tough. You come away with the win which is the most important thing, but we know we have a lot of work to do."

Junior Krista Rhodes paced the Cardinals with a hard-earned 21 points and 13 rebounds while Hannah Scott scored nine points and pulled down 13 rebounds.

Woodland's leading scorer and their focal point on offense, who was coming off of her first-ever scoreless game against Kelly on Tuesday, struggled from the field shooting 7 for 28 (25 percent). Rhodes also fought early foul trouble limiting her minutes and aggression in the second half.

"For a jump shooter and for us to have three games this week, I'm sure she's a little tired," Woodland coach Robert Stein said.

Woodland's Krista Rhodes is defended by Scott County Central's Hannah Bode in a high school basketball game Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017, at Scott County Central High School.

Though the difference wasn't much in the end, Scott Central's 42-40 rebounding edge was felt the most on the offensive glass and limiting Woodland's offense to one-chance opportunities.

"They really dominated the glass for the most part if Scott or Rhodes was off the floor," Stein said. "It was very physical and they we much more prepared for that than we were on the boards."

After the Bravettes (11-9) earned an 8-6 lead during the first quarter, they took advantage of Rhodes' early exit in the second.

Rhodes picked up her third foul just 48 seconds into the frame and SCC immediately ran off eight straight points to go ahead 16-9.

"When she got her third foul and we had to sit her down they went on a pretty good run there," Stein said.

Scott Central's defense also went to work forcing the Cardinals into nine turnovers in the second quarter alone but couldn't immediately pull away. Missed shots were still aplenty for the Bravettes, who finished 5 for 18 in the second frame and 7 for 30 overall in the first half.

Scott County Central's Hailey Kesler shoots over Woodland's Krista Rhodes in a high school basketball game Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017, at Scott County Central High School.

A Rhodes 3-pointer at the end of the first half cut SCC's lead to 21-15.

Scott Central's presence and physicality around the basket became more evident in the second half. They finished at the rim more and Coffee scooped up offensive rebounds for putbacks to help nudge the Bravettes further ahead.

The Bravettes led by as many as 16 in the third quarter before taking a 39-25 lead into the final period but needed to fend off one more Woodland push to seal the win.

A three by Rhodes and another bucket from Emma Cook cut SCC's lead to 39-30 with 6:34 to play. Woodland cut it to nine again less than a minute later until Coffee scored four unanswered to push the Bravettes back ahead 44-31 with 4:41 remaining.

That spurt was enough to keep Woodland at bay.

Coffee scored six of her 10 second half points in the fourth quarter and got all three of her field goals in the quarter through offensive rebounds.

"Thank goodness for Samantha," Limbaugh said. "She kept us rolling and got us some big buckets. She kept giving us that lead... We're happy she's on our side."

As a team, the Cardinals finished 24 percent (11 for 45) from the floor.

Scott Central was won three of their last four games and will host Chaffee tonight.

"We needed to make sure we didn't stop playing and I think a couple time we looked up at the scoreboard and saw a double-digit lead and thought we had it under control," Limbaugh said. "We're not a good enough team to be able to do that. We have to keep our foot on the gas the entire time."

Woodland691012--37
SCC813189--48

WOODLAND (37) -- Lainey Long 1, Maddi Altenthal 1, Emma Cook 2, Krista Rhodes 21, Hannah Scott 9, Alyssa Dowd 3. FG 11 FT 12-23 F 11. (3-pointers: Rhodes 3. Fouled out: none.)

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL (48) -- Samantha Coffee 20, Breasia Jones 2, Trinity Thomas 6, Hailey Kesler 8, Johneisha Daniel 8, Rita Meeker 4. FG 19 FT 9-15 F 18. (3-pointers: Kesler 1. Fouled out: none.)

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