Top seeds advance in first round of Lady Devils Invitational

Kelly's Tessa Johnson puts up a shot against Chaffee during the opening round of the Chaffee Lady Devils Invitational Wednesday at Chaffee High School. (Brent Shipman photo)

sports@standard-democrat.com

CHAFFEE -- Despite not seeing any competition in over a week, Kelly head coach Rod McQuerter was pleased with how his girls responded Wednesday in the opening round of the 37th annual Lady Devils Invitational.

Taking advantage of a strong second quarter the third-seeded Lady Hawks were able to hold off a late push by the defending champion and sixth-seeded Lady Devils for a 41-32 win.

"Chaffee is very good basketball team, but I have to give our girls credit," McQuerter said. "They practiced hard over the snow days. It's hard to play a game without any days of school where you're just going against each other, but they came out tonight and they competed.

"Last year we got beat in the first game of the tournament and this year we won the first game so I'm very proud of their effort."

Coming out of the first quarter trailing by two points, the Lady Hawks outscored the Lady Devils 20-7 in the final eight minutes of the half to head into halftime leading 24-13.

Kelly extended their lead to 13 points with a quick bucket to start the second half, but Chaffee soon adjusted and started a methodical comeback.

Six-straight points by the Lady Devils cut their deficit down to seven before closing the quarter on a 6-4 run to make it 30-25.

Down by as many as eight points again, Chaffee mounted one final rally in the final four minutes of the game that had them within three, at 35-32, with 2:01 to play.

A long jumper from Tessa Johnson extended Kelly's lead back to two scores. Following a missed Chaffee shot, the Lady Hawks started killing the clock. Forced to foul, the Lady Devils saw Kelly go 3 of 6 from the line in the final 21 seconds to seal the win.

"That's called confidence," McQuerter said of his team's hitting late shots to hold off Chaffee. "The girls have to be willing to take those shots and I'm very proud of them because they took them. That's why I like these girls. They know there's no pressure playing for the Lady Hawks.

"The only pressure is the pressure they put on themselves and they displayed that tonight. I have 15 girls down here and one great senior (Payton Jones) on our team and she came to play tonight."

Leading Kelly's effort was Johnson with 10 points on the night while Samantha Ratledge and Tori Duenne added nine and seven points respectively.

For Chaffee, Jordan Pruitt had 10 points with Julia Sutterfield adding eight points to the Lady Devils' cause.

With the win the Lady Hawks move on to play Oran in the semifinal tonight at 8:30 p.m. Chaffee will play Scott City in the consolation semifinals, also tonight, at 5:30 p.m.

Both games are at Chaffee High School.

KELLY (41) -- Samantha Ratledge 9, Morgan LeDure 2, Tessa Johnson 10, Stephanie Worth 3, Tori Duenne 7, Kristi Brucker 3, Payton Jones 1, Logan Ivie 6. FG 16, FT 9-21, F 20. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none.)

CHAFFEE (32) -- Jordan Pruitt 10, Julia Sutterfield 8, Elaine Sexton 2, Hannah Seyer 6, Lindsey Harrell 4, Kaitlyn McFerron 2. FG 12, FT 7-25, F 19. (3-pointers: Pruitt 1. Fouled out: none.)

Oran 72, Scott City 16

CHAFFEE -- Led by Addie Kielhorner's 21 points the second-seeded Oran Lady Eagles rolled to a 72-16 win over the seventh-seeded Scott City Lady Rams.

The Lady Eagles allowed a single basket in the first frame during a 20-2 run. By the half they led 39-8. They would outscore Scott City 22-6 in the third to ensure a turbo-clocked fourth.

Behind Kielhofner, Chrissy Sauceda hit six 3-pointers on the night to finish with 18 points. Taylor Nenninger and Tatum May scored 13 and 12 points respectively.

SCOTT CITY (16) -- Shea Martin 2, Anna Kern 4, Natalie Woods 2, Carly Howell 2, Michaela Kiefer 6. FG 14, FT 2-7, F 19. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: Martin.)

ORAN (72) -- Addie Kielhofner 21, Ashlyn McIntosh 3, Taylor Nenninger 13, Allie Cummins 6, Tatum May 12, Chrissy Sauceda 18. FG 26, FT 11-24, F 12. (3-pointers: Sauceda 6, Nenninger 1. Fouled out: none.)

East Prairie 54, Delta 19

CHAFFEE -- Jumping out to an 11-point first quarter lead, the fourth-seeded East Prairie Lady Eagles cruised to an easy 54-19 win over the fifth-seeded Delta Lady Bobcats.

East Prairie went on to outscore Delta 12-4 in the second quarter to go up 29-10 at the break. They'd outscored the Lady Bobcats in each of the last two frames to ensure the win.

Rebekah Douglas had a game-high 16 points with Kaitlyn Shands contributing 13 points. Caitlyn Harwell was the third Lady Eagle in double-digits with 12 points.

East Prairie will play top-seeded Woodland tonight at 7 p.m. in the semifinals while Delta will meet Puxico at 4 p.m. in the consolation semifinals.

DELTA (19) -- Tia May 3, Carrie Waddle 1, Chasity Taylor 4, Shiann Clayborn 2, Selina Smith 2, Rachel Birkman 7. FG 12, FT 3-6, F 20. (3-pointers: May 1, Birkman 1. Fouled out: none.)

EAST PRAIRIE (54) -- Rebekah Douglas 16, Dakota Arnold 5, Caitlyn Harwell 12, Kaitlyn Shands 13, Bethany Ferrell 3, Kali Thurman 5. FG 19, FT 13-21, F 9. (3-pointers: Arnold 1, Harwell 2. Fouled out: none.)

Woodland 65, Puxico 31

CHAFFEE -- Top-seeded Woodland opened the tournament with 65-31 win over eighth-seeded Puxico.

Josie Long had a game-high 29 points, including 17 points in the first quarter alone to help her team take a 21-6 lead into the second quarter. She had four of her team's eight 3-pointers on the night and went a perfect 3 for 3 at the free throw line.

The Lady Cardinals built a 40-11 advantage going into halftime before putting up another 23 points in the third quarter to effectively seal the game.

PUXICO (31) -- Morgyn Nelson 4, Danielle Roberts 6, Brenna Hancock 3, Gabby Clark 6, Katelyn Pierre 6, Nikki Richmond 6. FG 9, FT 12-21, F 16. (3-pointers: Roberts 1. Fouled out: none.)

WOODLAND (65) -- Whitney Lincoln 1, Josie Long 29, Taylor Toombs 13, Rachel Poole 8, Shelby Sawyer 7, Lindsey Craft 4, Ashley Chapman 3. FG 24, FT 9-17, F 15. (3-pointers: Long 4, Toombs 3, Chapman 1. Fouled out: none.)