Kelly girls top Charleston for third at Scott-Miss. tournament

By SCOTT ROSCOVIUS ~ Special to the Missourian

MORLEY, Mo. -- The Kelly and Charleston girls basketball teams combined for 32 fouls, 41 free-throw attempts and 28 turnovers Friday night.

And that was just the first half.

It was obvious the team that adapted to the flow of the game would win, and Kelly did just that, outscoring Charleston 22-7 in the third period on its way to a 79-54 victory in the third-place game of the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament at Scott County Central High School.

"They adjusted well," said Kelly coach Rod McQuerter about his squad, which evened its season mark at 7-7 with the win. "Charleston's a good defensive team and a very good offensive team. I'm proud of our girls. They work hard. When these girls were freshmen and sophomores, they didn't win a game in this tournament. And this year, to get third place, that's a remarkable achievement for us.

"They came out and accepted the challenge of a really good Charleston basketball team."

It was more difficult than the score would suggest. Tight officiating made for a whistle-filled first half, and neither team could sustain any momentum. Kelly led 39-35 early in the third quarter before a 15-2 run ballooned the lead to 54-37.

It was that stretch, Charleston coach Josh Thompson said, that doomed the Bluejays.

"I thought we stopped playing our game," he said. "We like to take the ball to the basket real hard, and we stopped doing it. We got really passive. They sat in that zone, and we didn't attack it very much, and that's what made the difference."

Kelly's Samantha Ratledge, a junior guard, led the Hawks with 24 points, mostly on layups when the Hawks either broke the Bluejays' full-court press or beat them down the court on the fast break.

"You practice how you play, and we practice like that," Ratledge said about Kelly's up-tempo offense. "We had to have a good outcome."

Ratledge scored 17 of her 24 points in the second half when Kelly pulled away.

"We call her 'Hot Sauce,'" said McQuerter of his floor leader. "We gave her that name because she's an outstanding athlete. She does a lot of good things for us. But don't take anything away from the girls that got her the ball tonight. They sacrifice a lot of things to get her the ball, and she did well when she got the ball. She's come a long way in the last two years."

Kristi Brucker added 12 points and Morgan LeDure had 11 for the Hawks.

LeDure said the Hawks didn't change their strategy despite the plethora of first-half whistles. Kelly was charged with 19 fouls in the opening half, but just two after intermission. The result was that Charleston, which shot 25 first-half free throws, went to the line just twice in the second half.

"There were a lot of fouls called, but we continued to attack," LeDure said.

With the Bluejays reeling in the second half, Kelly kept up the attack, pushing the ball at every opportunity while packing in their defense and forcing Charleston to shoot from the outside. When the Bluejays missed, the taller Hawks blocked out well and controlled the boards.

"The girls have been working hard all year," McQuerter said. "There were some bumps in the road early in the year. Tonight they came out and rebounded well. I told them, 'You get the rebound, don't turn the ball over and make your free throws. Make the game come easy to you.' And tonight they rebounded the ball very well."

Said LeDure, "Coach said, 'You better box out or I'm going to put you on the bench.'"

Charleston's Cheyenne Randle led all scorers with 25 points, while teammate Sierra Frazier added 23. Frazier, a 5-foot junior guard, scored her 1,000th career point midway through the second quarter on a free throw and has 1,010 for her career.

Kelly 18 18 22 21 -- 79

Charleston 17 15 7 15 -- 54

KELLY (79) -- Samantha Ratledge 24, Morgan LeDure 11, Kaylee Scherer 7, Tessa Johnson 8, Stephanie Worth 7, Kristi Brucker 12, Payton Jones 4, Logan Ivie 6. FG: 31. FT: 16-27. Total fouls: 21. (3-pointers: Ratledge 1. Fouled out: none.)

CHARLESTON (54) -- Sierra Frazier 23, Keana Horton 2, Frederica Evans 1, Juwanna Walker 2, Cheyenne Randle 25, Chanelle Quinn 1. FG: 19. FT: 15-27. Total fouls: 22. (3-pointers: Frazier 1. Fouled out: Natalie Groves.)