JACK-ED UP: LADY TIGERS LEARN FROM LOSS TO JACKSON, DEFEAT PERRYVILLE

After Cape Central's 47-36 loss to Jackson on Thursday night, Lady Tigers basketball coach Darrick Smith was bothered by the way his girls came out and played in the third quarter.

Not so on Saturday.

After trailing 29-22 at halftime, Central (16-6) opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run and, thanks to a brilliant performance by senior guard Kim Aslinger, posted a 52-47 win over visiting Perryville (13-9).

Aslinger produced her best offensive output of the season, scoring 25 points. She scored 17 in the second half, 10 of her team's 16 points in the third quarter and five points in the final 2:35. She also had six steals.

"She's a great player," Perryville coach Vicki Lohmann said. "Thank goodness she's a senior and we don't have worry about her anymore, although Cape Central does have some young girls with talent."

"It's a good thing that she scores," Smith said of Aslinger. "We need somebody else to step up on the offensive end. We've sat around and watch Kim score enough. Don't get me wrong, we need her to score. We just have to get more people more involved offensively. There are people capable on the floor."

The Lady Tigers made up seven points in the third quarter and headed into the fourth quarter tied at 38.

Smith was pleased with the way the Lady Tigers played in the second half, but was less than thrilled with their first-half performance.

"I think we switched halves," he said, referring to the game against Jackson. "We didn't play well in the first half, but we played a lot harder in the second half. But our backs were against the wall and we had to."

"I just don't think our guards were ready to play today," Lohmann said. "We just turned the ball over too many times."

Aslinger put the Lady Tigers ahead for good with 2:35 left in the game when she swished two free throws and upped the score to 46-45.

After a Perryville turnover, Dionna Webb nailed a 16-foot jump shot with 2:15 to give Central a 48-45 lead.

Perryville's standout guard Tiffany Perkins, who scored 18 points, clipped the lead to 48-47 with 1:03 remaining with a layup.

After a 5-second infraction on the ensuing inbounds play, Perryville had an opportunity to take the lead but missed a 3-pointer.

In a mad scramble to gather the rebound, Aslinger finally hustled it down and was immediately fouled. In the bonus, she made the two foul shots and put Central ahead 50-47.

"It worked out nice that Kim was on the line most of those times (in the fourth quarter)," Smith said. "She seems to be our best and most confident free-throw shooter."

After Perkins missed two foul shots with :40.2 left, Aslinger essentially put the game out of reach by making one of two from the stripe with :23 remaining.

Central's Katie Dougherty made one of two from the foul line with 6.2 seconds left to account for the final margin.

The victory was somewhat of a consolation after losing twice to Jackson, the team ranked No. 1 in Class 4A, in less than a week.

"(The win) was pretty important to keep our heads up," Aslinger said. "We were pretty disappointed. We needed the win."