Central girls eliminate Sikeston from district basketball tournament

DEXTER, Mo. -- In a season of ups and downs, the Central girls basketball team needed just four minutes Saturday night to show how good they can be when they put everything together.

The Tigers used a 12-2 third-quarter run to blow open a close game and rolled to a 49-36 victory over Sikeston in the opening game of the Class 4 District 1 tournament, the third time they've beaten the Bulldogs this season. Central (12-13), the district's third-seeded team, advanced to Monday's semifinal against No. 2 Notre Dame, which had a first-round bye.

The Tigers also benefitted from a 6-0 mini-run near the end of the second quarter than enabled them to establish a 20-16 lead at the half.

"Those were key runs that we had," Central coach Sherri Shirrell said, noting the contributions of reserves Madison Daum and Liz Kight. "I thought Maddie gave us a spark, and I thought that Liz gave us a spark."

Daum contributed a key steal and layup, and Kight ignited the offense with her ability to beat Sikeston's press and run Central's offense from the point.

Coupled with Alayah Cooper-Johnson's typical effort -- 22 points, 20 rebounds -- it was too much for Sikeston (6-18) to overcome.

"When they made those runs, we just didn't get back on defense," Sikeston coach Matt Schonhoff said. "A lot of that was transition stuff. I thought defensively, with Erica [Peet] and Yolanda [Johnson], they did a tremendous job on defending (Cooper-Johnson) in the first half. Then they got those easy layups on transition, and we let Cooper-Johnson get some offensive rebounds, and it's easy to score on rebounds."

Cooper-Johnson was held to a quiet eight points in the first half but erupted for 10 in the third period.

Peet was unable to play in the second half due to a respiratory problem, and the Tigers took advantage. With the score 27-23, Cooper-Johnson scored six straight points -- on a drive in the lane, a putback and a layup -- that put the Tigers up 33-23. Sikeston's Mikala Nichols scored on a follow-up to make it 33-25, but Central scored on its next three possessions. Katie Williams converted passes from Cooper-Johnson and Bailey Kratochvil into easy layins, sandwiched around Daum's steal and layup, to put the Tigers up 39-25 late in the third.

"That was kind of the turning point," Williams, who finished with eight points, said. "It's hard to beat a team three times. Sikeston came out and really took it to us."

Central hit 8 of 19 shots from the field, 3 of 4 free throws, and turned the ball over just twice in the pivotal third quarter.

"We've got to eliminate turnovers," Cooper-Johnson said. "Each game, if we eliminate turnovers, the game will go that much better for us."

Central also showed an ability to close out an opponent. Although the Tigers had just one field goal in the final quarter, they were a perfect 8 of 8 from the free-throw line.

Nichols led Sikeston with 18 points.

Sikeston 8 8 12 8 -- 36

Central 9 11 19 10 -- 49

SIKESTON (36) -- Hayli Chapman 8, Aleah Little 8, Mikala Nichols 18, Erica Peet 2. FG: 16, FT: 2-4, F: 15. (3-pointers: Nichols 2. Fouled out: Nichols)

CENTRAL (49) -- Alayah Cooper-Johnson 22, Kelly Morton 2, Bailey Kratochvil 7, Liz Kight 2, Kadie Orenstein 1, Kassidy Pannier 5, Madison Daum 2, Katie Williams 8. FG: 17, FT: 13-15, F: 8. (3-pointers: Kratochvil 1, Pannier 1. Fouled out: none)