Cape Central, C3D2 rivals battle for fifth place positioning

After falling in the quarterfinals on Sunday, four teams will battle on Wednesday, Dec. 20, for a place in the fifth-place game of the First State Community Bank Holiday Classic at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

Cape Central will take on Kelly at 7 p.m., followed by the 8:30 p.m. matchup between Woodland and Scott City. The winners will face off in the fifth-place game on Thursday, Dec. 21, at 5:30 p.m., while the losers will play for seventh place at 4 p.m.

Three of these four teams are a part of the highly competitive Class 3 District 2. It will be the third matchup between Woodland and Scott City this season, and it’s not even Christmas. The Cardinals won 34-30 in the Lady Devils Invitational on Dec. 4, to snap the Rams’ season opening five-game winning streak. The Cardinals won again at home 50-37 on Dec. 11.

The Cardinals will be looking to avenge their worst loss of the season, a 64-24 drubbing by Saxony Lutheran in the quarterfinals on Sunday, in which Mallary Barks was held to eight points. She scored 15 to go with Addyson Massa’s 16 points in Woodland’s 44-30 first round win over Meadow Heights on Saturday.

Scott City opened the tournament with a 64-43 over Scott County Central on Saturday, but lost to Jackson 66-41 in the quarterfinals on Sunday. Mackenzie Lawless leads the Rams with 32 points over the past two games.

Two straight wins for either Scott City (7-4) or Woodland (7-2) would have them exiting the tournament with nine wins before the end of the calendar year. One of them will also end the tournament with a matchup against C3D2 rival Kelly.

The Hawks (6-2) have started the season hot at 6-2, as Matthew Blissett has been emphasizing defense all year long.

“I really want to set the tone defensively and that’s one of the things I’m trying to get the girls to understand so we can create some offense from that,” Blissett said.

Kelly started the tournament with an 87-51 win over Cairo on Saturday. The duo of Jada-Lynn Griggs and Brooke Dirnberger led the Hawks with 16 points. Griggs also had 26 points in the Hawks’ 52-49 quarterfinal loss to St. Vincent on Sunday. Kelly had a five-point lead in the final minute of the game. However, a corner three-pointer from Abigail Schilling, followed by a five-second violation and three-pointer by Rylee Robinson lead to a win for the Indians.

Cape Central (4-4) has been leaning on Emani Summers for offense all season. The New Madrid transfer scored 27 points in a 51-44 first round win over Oak Ridge this past Saturday and had 15 points in a 64-26 loss against Delta.

“We need Emani to actually be more selfish,” Cape Central coach Aaron Lee said. “She tends to try and be a really good distributor as well and we need her to be more selfish off the dribble.”

The Tigers have faced the challenge of finding consistency this season. They started 0-2 before exiting the SEMO Conference Tournament with wins over Poplar Bluff and Saxony Lutheran and defeated Naylor for three straight victories. Cape Central rebounded from a road loss at Scott County Central by beating Oak Ridge but their Delta defeat brought the young team back to .500 on the season.

“I think we’re just really young,” Lee said. “At the varsity level when you’re playing five freshman you’re going to have those ups and downs.”

A fifth-place finish would have the Tigers entering the new year with a winning record.