KELLY GIRLS CATPRUE TITLE AT SCOTT-MISS. TOURNEY

BENTON, Mo. -- Trailing 28-24 at halftime, Kelly's girls basketball team switched to a man-to-man fullcourt defense and it paid immediate dividends as the Lady Hawks defeated a young Scott City team 59-44 to claim the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament championship Thursday night.

Kelly (12-1) outscored the Lady Rams (8-5) 21-4 in the crucial third period.

"The girls came out and played extremely hard in the third," said Kelly coach Rod McQuerter. "We picked up the intensity. Scott City's a good team and are well coached. We just wanted to come out and play hard for four quarters and we did and it was a big win for the girls."

Bridgett Riley scored a game-high 22 points to lead Kelly, while Dana Essner chipped in with 16 and Marrissa Essner added 13.

"Dana Essner played extremely well," McQuerter said. "She had a lot of steals and really set the tone for us. She played an excellent game at point guard."

Freshman Loren Groves led Scott City with 18 points.

"I'm proud of our kids because we played hard in the game despite some youthful mistakes," said Scott City coach Randy White. "We didn't handle the ball very well at times and I tried not to come unglued. We're seeing a lot of signs of improvement and Kelly's got a good ballclub."

De Soto 51, St. Vincent 34

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- The Squaws were outscored 20-9 in the third quarter as they fell to 3-7.

Danielle Sutterer scored 13 points to lead St. Vincent.

Hanna Latham made three 3-pointers in scoring a game-high 21 points for De Soto. Laura Robertson added 13 points for De Soto.

"We worked real hard and had a lot of shots that just didn't fall," said St. Vincent coach Terry Wengert. "They came out in the third quarter and hit a couple of threes. We were in the ballgame, but the third quarter killed us."

Perryville 55, Hillsboro 44

HILLSBORO, Mo. -- Perryville established an early lead in improving to 2-0 in Jefferson County Conference play.

Stacy Baer scored 15 points to lead Perryville (6-7) while Natalie Bohnert and Jamie Amberger each finished with 12 points. Amberger also had 17 rebounds and teammate Andrea Buerck came off the bench to grab 10 rebounds.

Perryville took a 13-6 lead in the first quarter and led 27-19 at halftime. The Lady Pirates carried a 42-31 lead into the final quarter.