Ayers, Kirchdoerfer lift Lady Devils over Scott Central

Chaffee's Anna Ayers prepares to shoot over Scott Central's Daisy Gillespie Thursday night in Chaffee. Ayers finished with a game-high 31 points. (Photo by David Jenkins, Staff)

CHAFFEE -- It was fitting that on Senior Night, Chaffee's two seniors stole the show.

Anna Ayers and Taylor Kirchdoerfer combined for 51 points and made key defensive plays late in the game as the Lady Devils defeated Scott County Central 69-52 Thursday night.

The first half belonged to Ayers as the senior point guard put on an offensive display. Ayers scored off the dribble, came off screens for open shots and hit driving runners on her way to 27 first half points, helping Chaffee build a 42-21 lead at halftime.

"Everything seemed to fall for her," said Chaffee coach Tyson Moyers. "She was in rhythm. She was open on those out of bounds plays and she had some open 3's. She came off the screen at the top and hit those shots. She just hit open shots."

Ayers said shooting before the game helped her get into a rhythm and that carried over into the first half.

"Before the game, me and Coach Hawkins, our history teacher, played 31 off our new machine we have," Ayers said. "I think that helped a lot. The team was giving me good passes and they were setting good screens for me, so I think they helped me get open a lot to get good shots."

Up until this season, Ayers had never been the top scoring option for the Lady Devils but Moyers said she has adapted into the role.

"Anna has really developed her shot all year long," Moyers said. "It never was a great part of her game early in her career but she really developed it this year. She shoots the ball with a lot of confidence and she has a big load on her shoulders. She has to bring the ball up the floor, she usually has to guard their best player."

While Chaffee had a big lead in the first half, it didn't last long as Scott Central came storming back in the third quarter. With an emphasis on denying Ayers the basketball, the Bravettes received a big lift from their top scorer Markita Mosley.

Mosley, who was held to just nine first half points, scored nine points in the third quarter alone for the Bravettes who kept cutting into the Chaffee lead.

As Scott Central began to mount their comeback, the Lady Devils were finding it difficult to score as Ayers was unable to find her shot like in the first half.

"(Anna) got tired," Moyers said. "She had to get up and down quite a bit in the first half. She was guarding Markita up top and that's not an easy thing to do."

Fortunately for Chaffee, Kirchdoerfer stepped into the scoring role, scoring 10 points in the quarter, including a 3-pointer late in the period after Scott Central sliced the Lady Devil advantage to only 14.

"(Taylor) struggles sometimes taking bad shots, but when she steps into her shot in rhythm she can knock it down just as well as Anna can," Moyers said. "Luckily she did. Anna wasn't scoring and we weren't running good offense. We don't play with the lead very often and playing with the lead we didn't know how to react to that and we started taking rushed shots that we didn't have to."

"Everybody on the team shoots, so it is just whoever gets open and whoever throws it up there," Kirchdoerfer said. "Everybody works together."

Scott Central continued their comeback in the fourth quarter, cutting the Chaffee lead to 61-50 with just under five minutes remaining. However, Mosley fouled out a minute later with the score the same.

"With Markita in we couldn't play man and we had to play zone and focus on her a little bit," Moyers said. "When she fouled out we were able to go man. Once we could go man, that is our better defense."

A minute later Chaffee clung to a 62-52 advantage when Kirchdoerfer and Ayers both grabbed steals and went coast-to-coast for layups on back-to-back possessions as Chaffee put to rest the Bravettes comeback.

"I think we were on an adrenaline rush," Kirchdoerfer said of the steals. "We do that sometimes in practice when we get really pumped up."

Ayers finished the game with 30 points and also grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with five assists and three steals.

"It was an awesome game to win," Ayers said of Senior Night. "We haven't won a lot of games this year, but we play hard when we come out here and this was a real good game. It got everybody pumped up."

Kirchdoerfer finished with 21 points and also grabbed 13 rebounds. Junior Randi Wiley also finished in double figures with 10 points.

Mosley led Scott Central with 22 points and pulled down 16 rebounds. Daisy Gillespie added 13 points and nine rebounds while Denise McClinton scored 11.

With the win, Chaffee improves to 4-15 on the season and will play their final game of the regular season Monday when they travel to Woodland.

"This season hasn't been a winning season but it has been one of the funnest seasons I've played," Ayers said. "It's a learning experience for everybody and I think in a few years these girls are going to be a tough team to beat."

SCOTT CENTRAL (52) -- Katie Ruedrich 2, Denise McClinton 11, Daisy Gillespie 13, Markita Mosley 22, Kathy Brown 2, Amber Fritz 2. FG 17, FT 16-23, F 18. (3-pointers: Mosley 2. Fouled out: McClinton, Gillespie, Mosley).

CHAFFEE (69) -- Randi Wiley 10, Taylor Kirchdoerfer 21, Anna Ayers 30, Ellie Sigman 6, Sierra Miller 2. FG 28, FT 8-22, F 17. (3-pointers: Ayers 3, Kirchdoerfer 2. Fouled out: none).