BLUFF, JACKSON REMAIN HEALTHY

Just how much pride does the Poplar Bluff High girls basketball team take in its defense?

Let coach Kirk Chronister explain.

"We have three words written in our locker room: defense, defense, defense," said Chronister. "We take pride in it."

That point was hammered home to Cape Girardeau Central's Lady Tigers in a big way Thursday night during the semifinals of the fifth annual HealthSouth Holiday Classic at the Show Me Center.

The top-seeded and three-time defending champion Lady Mules smothered fourth-seeded Cape Central's offense in the first half as Poplar Bluff coasted to a 44-27 victory and advanced to tonight's 8:30 championship game.

Poplar Bluff, which finished second in last year's Class 4A state tournament and is ranked third in the state this season, improved to 8-1. Cape Central, ranked 10th in 4A, fell to 5-2. The Lady Tigers will play at 7 tonight for third place.

The Lady Mules held the Lady Tigers to just one first-half field goal as they jumped out to a 22-6 halftime lead. Cape Central never made a serious run in the second half as the Lady Tigers could not cut the deficit to single digits.

"I told the girls at halftime that I don't ever remember a ballclub of mine playing as good a half of defense," Chronister said. "I was really proud of that."

Poplar Bluff certainly made a believer out of Cape Central coach Mark Ruark, who expected a close contest.

"They totally intimidated us from start to finish," said Ruark, whose team had 14 first-half turnovers in the face of Poplar Bluff's smothering pressure defense. The Lady Tigers finished with 24 turnovers. "They took us out of our game. It's a credit to their defense.

"They took the fight to us and we weren't ready. The game was never even close."

Jessica Wilson paced the Lady Mules offensively with 12 points. All-stater Ashley Williams added 10 points.

No Cape Central player reached double figures. Sarah Hyslop led the Lady Tigers with eight points.

"I thought we played good defense. We held them to nine field goals," said Ruark. "But we only had six field goals. It's hard to win like that."

The Lady Mules did much of their damage from the free-throw line, especially late. Poplar Bluff hit 23 of 29 foul shots. Cape Central was 14 of 22 from the charity stripe.

Poplar Bluff scored the game's first six points and held Cape Central scoreless for the first 3:30 of the contest. Katie Dougherty finally got a basket for the Lady Tigers, but that was it for their offense in the opening quarter as the Lady Mules built a 12-2 lead.

The Lady Mules then outscored the Lady Tigers 12-4 in the second period to lead 22-6 at the intermission.

"The way we played in the first half, I felt almost fortunate we were only down 16 at halftime," Ruark said.

Cape Central's offense picked up a bit in the second half, but not enough to make a difference. The Lady Tigers were within 29-18 after three quarters, then got to within 10 points twice in the final period before Poplar Bluff used a 7-0 run to put the game away.

"I'm disappointed in the loss. I felt coming in that we could play with them," said Ruark. "Hopefully we can learn from this game. We know we have to get a lot better to play with them."