Cape Central gets by Kelly in holiday classic

A defensive battle swung in favor of the Cape Central Tigers as they downed the Kelly Hawks 50-34 on Wednesday in the First State Community Bank Holiday Classic.

From the opening tip, it was clear both teams placed an emphasis on the defensive end of the ball as it was just 4-0 Tigers nearly six minutes into the first quarter.

“We came out with a purpose,” Tigers coach Aaron Lee said. “Our defense was really good. We still have to score the ball. Defense keeps you in games and offense wins them.”

Despite not being able to get going on the offensive end, the Tigers defense was sound enough to allow them to hold a 6-4 lead after the first quarter.

“The better defense we can play, the easier the buckets we can get in transition,” Lee said. “We’re not a very polished offensive team yet so we have to get those easy buckets.”

The struggling offense came to life in the second quarter as Emani Summers got going from the field, scoring 7 of her 23 points in the quarter to give Cape Central a 16-9 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.

With the Tigers defense still engaged and the offense coming to life, it appeared as the they would control the game for its duration.

However, the Hawks had some pushback in them out of the half as they cut the Tigers’ lead to just four early in the third quarter.

“I think Kelly came out more aggressive,” Lee said. “They came out and pressed and trapped and they did a really good job against us.”

Cape Central answered with a pushback of its own as the Tigers quickly built the lead back up to double-digits, taking a 33-22 lead into the fourth quarter.

“Our girls are resilient,” Lee said. “We’re not always composed but we’re resilient. When we make mistakes, we don’t get our heads down, we go back and play defense and get it again.”

The little burst to push the lead back to double-digits was all the Tigers needed to win and advance to the fifth-place game of the holiday classic.

Following Summers' 23 point night was Taylor Dockery with 10 points and Jade Dawson-Ide with 6 points.

On the opposing end, Kelly was led by Jada Griggs who had 14 points.

Also scoring for Kelly was Kristin Grogan and Brooke Dirnberger with 6 points each.

Kelly (6-3) moves to the seventh-place game of the holiday classic at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 21, at the Show Me Center.

Cape Central (5-4) advances to the fifth-place game of the holiday classic at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 21, at the Show Me Center.