High seeds advance in Chaffee tourney

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- The first three games of the Chaffee Invitational girls basketball tournament went according to form Monday night as Kelly, Delta and Sikeston all picked up victories.

Top-seeded Kelly pounded No. 8 East Prairie 79-14; No. 2 Delta eased past No. 7 Portageville 55-42; and No. 4 Sikeston won a low-scoring duel over No. 5 Chaffee 42-32.

The final first-round game will be played Wednesday when No. 3 Scott City meets No. 6 Oran at 5:30 p.m. That game will be followed by the first semifinal, which features Kelly (4-0) against Sikeston. The Scott City-Oran winner will face Delta in the other semifinal at 8 p.m. Thursday.

In Monday's action, Kelly jumped out to 40-5 lead in the first half of its rout over East Prairie. Christy Kluesner paced the Lady Hawks with 14 points, while Ashley Payne added 13 and Bridgett Riley had 12.

In its loss to Sikeston, Chaffee (0-3) mustered just eight first-half points and 14 through three quarters. With Jennifer Vandeven scoring 12 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter, Chaffee broke loose for 18 points in the final period.

Jan Medlin led Sikeston with 12 points.

Sikeston scored eight points in each of the first two quarters en route to a 16-8 halftime lead. The Lady Bulldogs took a 30-14 lead into the fourth quarter.

Delta (2-2) received 15 points from Rebecca Below, 13 from Rebecca Cook and 12 from Sarah J. Cook. The Lady Bobcats led 26-16 at halftime.

Janil Booker paced Portageville with 19 points.

Woodland Tournament

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Woodland, which went winless last year, improved to 2-0 by beating Risco 42-15 as the Lady Cardinals' four-team, round-robin tourney got under way.

The Lady Cardinals, who have beaten Risco twice this season, were led by Diana McCall with 15 points. Woodland held Risco scoreless in the first half as it led 24-0.

Another game Monday saw Greenville beat Puxico 53-34.

Friday, Risco plays Greenville at 5:30 p.m. and Woodland takes on Puxico at 7. The tourney concludes Saturday.

BOYS BASKETBALL

PARK HILLS 74, PERRYVILLE 49

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Park Hills jumped out to a 17-5 first-quarter lead and never looked back against a cold-shooting Pirate squad.

"We just got off to a slow start and shot the ball horribly," said Perryville coach Jeff Steffens, noting his team was 17 of 59 from the field for the game. "The kids played hard. We just couldn't put the ball in the basket."

Chad Ozark scored a team-high 12 points for Perryville (1-1) as Jon Miesner and Andrew Meyr each finished with 11.

Lance Sechrist led Park Hills with 14 points.

Perryville trailed 34-19 at halftime but closed the gap to nine points, 41-32, entering the fourth quarter. Park Hills closed with a flourish, scoring 33 points in the final period.

PUXICO 99, ZALMA 66

PUXICO -- Chad Wiseman scored 24 points and Steven McCain had 16 during Zalma's loss.

Puxico (3-1) was led by Derek Binford with 25 points and Jerry Powell with 21.

JR. HIGH BASKETBALL

CARBONDALE 60, CENTRAL 9TH 59

Cape Central's freshmen suffered their first loss of the season as Carbondale, Ill., prevailed in overtime.

Lorenzo Braxton poured in 27 points for Central (4-1) while Brandon Twiggs added 12.

Central's 'B' team (2-0) won 48-35. Carl Bratcher had 11 points and Gabe Edwards 10.

--From staff reports