Sikeston falls in first round of tourney

Delta, Oran and Scott City all advance to semis

sd_sports@yahoo.com

CHAFFEE -- The 33rd Annual Chaffee Lady Devils Tournament got underway on Monday evening with two of the three games playing true to their original seedings. The top-seeded Scott City Lady Rams were the first to take to the floor and they handled business against the host, eighth-seeded Chaffee Lady Devils by a final of 62-23.

The game was in favor of the Lady Rams from the tip as they cruised to a 20-2 lead after the first quarter and led 38-4 at the break.

The second half was much of the same as Scott City outscored their lower opponent 24-19 and advanced to the second round of the tournament on Wednesday evening.

Katie Hogan and Holli Shemonia were the only two Lady Rams in double figures as Hogan finished with 12 and Shemonia with 11.

Tiffany Merritt added nine and Ashley Brant 8.

The Lady Devils were led by Taylor Kirchdoerfer's seven points.

Chaffee (23) -- Adrienne Eichhorn 3, Taylor Kirchdoerfer 7, Taylor Fodge 2, Ellie Sigman 6, Hannah Bedwell 3, Hailey Enderle 2. FG 9, FT 4-8, F 13. (3-pointers -- Bedwell 1. Fouled out -- none).

Scott City (62) -- Lindsey Ressell 4, Stephanie Essner 7, Melanie Lacey 5, Katie Hogan 12, Holli Shemonia 11, Macy Heisserer 2, Tiffany Merritt 9, Ashley Brant 8, Emily Echols 4. FG 27, FT 6-8, F 9. (3-pointers -- Essner 1, Merritt 1. Fouled out -- none).

Oran 53, East Prairie 41

In the second contest, the No. 5 seed Oran Lady Eagles overcame a 1-point halftime deficit against the No. 4 seed East Prairie Lady Eagles to go on and win 53-41 to advance to the winner's bracket.

Both clubs battled hard in the first half as they fought for possession back-and-forth, as well as baskets. Oran jumped out to a 13-10 lead after one, but East Prairie bounced back and snagged the lead at halftime, 19-18.

In the second half, the Lady Eagles put together solid scoring efforts as they cashed in 15 points in the third quarter and 20 in the fourth. Abbey Anderson and Cheyanne King put together the most second-half points as Anderson finished with eight points in the second half and King wrapped up the final two frames with nine.

East Prairie's Rianon Thresher continued to rack up points for the Lady Eagles, but her supporting cast was silent in her efforts in the loss. Thresher finished with a game-high 21 points on eight field goals and 5-of-7 shooting from the line.

Oran head coach Adam Friga said after the game that his team's defensive efforts provided the opportunity for the victory on Monday evening.

"The kids played defense tonight," said Friga. "We know we're not an offensive machine, but our kids played good defense. They (East Prairie) are a good team. They've got good post (players) and good guards.

"We got some big buckets and some good turnovers on defense when we needed to. Our defense created some offense tonight."

Anderson led Oran with 14 points while King finished with 12. Taylor Irwin added 10 points, including six of those in the second half, for the Oran Lady Eagles in the victory.

East Prairie head coach Steven Douglas said that his squad just couldn't overcome Oran's match-up zone in round one.

"He had a good game plan," said Douglas of Oran's Friga. "His match-up zone was good. I'll have an offense for it when we meet up again."

Douglas said that when they take to the floor again, they'll try to improve their pressure on the ball and work on getting the ball down low more into the post players Jennifer Nicholson and Thresher.

"They did a good job defending (Jennifer) Nicholson," Douglas said. "She's been averaging 24 points per game and we couldn't get the ball to her tonight. But, Rianon (Thresher) did a good job picking up the ball on the other side. She played very well."

Nicholson finished with eight points while Mandy Knupp added seven including a 3-pointer.

Oran (53) -- Abbey Anderson 14, Claire Seyer 4, Shelby Unger 6, Haley Glastetter 5, Taylor Irwin 10, Cheyanne King 12, Bethany Asmus 2. FG 19, FT 15-23, F 13. (3-pointers -- none. Fouled out -- Irwin).

East Prairie (41) -- Mandy Knupp 7, Caitlin Lindsey 2, Skyler Archie 1, Rianon Thresher 21, Grace Swann 2, Jennifer Nicholson 8. FG 15, FT 10-17, F 17. (3-pointers -- Knupp 1. Fouled out -- none).

Delta 57, Sikeston 39

The Sikeston Lady Bulldogs tipped-off against a very offensive-minded Delta Lady Bobcat squad in the final game of the evening and in the end, the Lady Bulldogs had no match for Taylor Smith and Kendra Burnett as they fell 57-39.

Smith, who finished Monday evening with 18 points, is just over 200 points away from the 1,000-point mark at Delta. Burnett added 10 points in the win.

The Lady Bobcats pulled ahead early in the first quarter and never looked back, taking a 19-10 first quarter lead and making it a 30-17 lead at the break. They outscored Sikeston 27-22 in the second half to hold on for the ticket to the winner's bracket.

Sikeston head coach Homer Jackson said after the game that Delta was scoring from both inside the paint and outside the arc and there wasn't much the Lady Bulldogs could do to stop it. He added that Smith's offensive performance was solid in the Lady Bobcats' win.

"We didn't recognize that," he said of Smith's outside shooting ability. "We were hoping that she would miss, but, she didn't."

Jackson also said that missed opportunities on put-backs under the goal cost his squad several points Monday night and that they must get more physical as the tournament and season progresses.

Asia Liggins led all scorers in the third game with 28 points. Liggins totaled 13 field goals and was 2-for-4 from the charity stripe.

Delta head coach Mark Verticchio said that the win enabled him to explore the depth of his bench, which will help as the season rolls along.

"We got to play everybody we had," said Verticchio. "It's good for the young kids. Even though they go in there and make mistakes, they still get to play."

Verticchio said that Sikeston has 'dramatically improved' from a season ago, and said that his young squad will do the same as the season continues, once they get healthy.

Sikeston (39) -- Tyanne Townsend 4, Asia Liggins 28, Kathryn Hay 2, Jerrica Taylor 2, Taneshia Pulley 3. FG 17, FT 3-10, F 10. (3-pointers -- none. Fouled out -- none).

Delta (57) -- Ashley Glaus 2, Taylor Smith 18, Katie Brucker 4, Kendra Burnett 10, Machela Gibbons 7, Macey Parks 2, Samantha Bartels 9, Courtney Burton 5. FG 24, FT 6-10, F 12. (3-pointers -- Smith 2, Bartels 1. Fouled out -- none).