LADY TIGERS BOUNCE N. COUNTY

Cape Girardeau Central High's girls basketball team turned in its best half of the season Monday night and that was more than enough to spark an easy 68-47 victory over visiting North County.

The Lady Tigers, who improved their record to 5-1, led 45-19 at halftime, thanks largely to a 28-6 second-quarter edge.

"We played our best half of basketball of the year and no doubt our best quarter," said Central coach Darrick Smith. "In the second quarter we got after it and really played good defense. We got a lot of turnovers, and when we got the turnovers we converted. We made a lot of good decisions."

Vontrice Blackmon scored 15 points to pace the Lady Tigers. Katie Dougherty added 12 points.

North County won the junior varsity game 59-36.

Central will return to action at 7 p.m. Wednesday, facing Scott County Central in the first round of the HealthSouth Holiday Classic at the Show Me Center.

Fredericktown 41, Notre Dame 36

FREDERICKTOWN -- Fredericktown prevailed to drop Notre Dame to 4-4.

Erin Kinder scored 16 points for the Lady Cats while the Lady Bulldogs had no player with more than eight points.

The Lady Cats led 22-16 at halftime and outscored the Lady Bulldogs 6-2 in a slow-paced third quarter.

Notre Dame plays Perryville at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in the HealthSouth Holiday Classic.

Kelly 84, East Prairie 32

BENTON -- Kelly romped to victory as it tuned up for Wednesday's game with powerful Jackson in the HealthSouth Holiday Classic.

The Lady Hawks (6-1) led 38-2 after one quarter and 59-14 at halftime.

Audrey Burford scored 22 points and Marissa Essner had 21 to paced the Lady Hawks. Bridgette Riley added 14 points and Nicole Kern contributed 12.

Kelly and Jackson will square off at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Scott Central 54, Oran 25

MORLEY -- Scott County Central opened up a double-figure lead in the first quarter and breezed to victory in its Scott-Mississippi Conference opener.

Scott Central (2-3) led 17-4 after the opening eight minutes and held a comfortable 31-13 lead at the intermission.

Katie Griffin paced the Bravettes with 15 points, Lekeya Turner tallied 14 and Ashley Whitson had 12.

Sara Heisserer accounted for nearly all of Oran's points, scoring a game-high 20.

Chaffee 51, Delta 47

CHAFFEE -- The Lady Red Devils built a 20-point first half lead and held off the Lady Bobcats down the stretch.

Jill little scored a game-high 35 points for Chaffee (2-3), Amy Burnett tallied 11 and Kate Nolen added 10.

Kristin Fish netted 15 points for Delta, Amanda Cook tallied 14 and Erin Cook had 10.

Chaffee led 11-3 after one quarter and 31-11 at halftime. Delta cut the lead to 39-29 by the start of the fourth quarter, but never closed the deficit to less than four points.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Oak Ridge 99, Meadow Heights 85

OAK RIDGE -- The Blue Jays unleashed 99 points of offense -- 61 in the second half -- to ensure its first victory of the season under new head coach Morgan Nugent.

Brent Schreiner led the outburst with 38 points. He was followed by Nick Friese, 24 points, and Eric Hobeck, 20.

Meadow Heights, which received 25 points from Seth Revelle, led 44-38 at halftime, but Oak Ridge overcame the deficit with a 29-13 scoring advantage in the third quarter for 67-57 lead. The Blue Jays added 32 points in the final period for the win.

"We blew a couple we should have won so it was nice to finally have one go our way," said Nugent.

The Panthers, winless on the season, also received 19 points from J.D. Brune and 12 from Cody Thompson.

Scott Co. Central 74, Puxico 57

PUXICO -- The Braves shook a sluggish start to post a victory over Puxico.

John Fort tallied 20 points, Jreece Johnson 19 and Todd Blissett 12 as Scott Central improved to 5-1.

Ryan Harmon scored 16 points for Puxico.

With the game tied 35-35 at halftime, Scott Central outscored Puxico 15-9 in the third quarter to open a 50-44 lead. The Braves pulled away in the fourth quarter.

WRESTLING

Cape Central 58, Dexter 28

DEXTER -- Cape Central picked up seven wins to claim its first dual-meet victory of the season after two losses.

"We wrestled pretty well," said Central coach Drew Lilledahl. "Overall, I thought we wrestled pretty tough. This is the first time that we've pretty much had a full lineup."

Central will host the big 16-team Tiger Classic Friday and Saturday.

"We're looking forward to our tournament," Lilledahl said. "It should be some really good competition."

Central 58, Dexter 28

103 - Double forfeit

112 - Hoss Hodges (C) pin. Kyle Mouton 2:58

119 - Keith Benton (C) pin. Jason Huey 1:06

125 - Brad Cooper (D) tech. pin. Darrin Harris 24-9

130 - Kevin Allen (C) forfeit

135 - Greg Chenoweth (C) pin. Mike Huffman 2:32

140 - Leland Woelk (C) maj. dec. Jason Rangel 13-0

145 - Josh Goodrich (C) pin. Cory Stevens 1:27

152 - Matt Terry (D) pin. Nick Harter 4:33

160 - Jamel Austin (C) pin. Shadrick Schafer 1:10

171 - Jason Barbour (D) pin. O.J. Turner 4:43

189 - Joe Bennett (D) pin. Shannon Mungle 1:31

215 - Matt Strickland (C) pin. Justin Kelley 1:59

HWT - Craig Knoth (C) pin. Phillip Willmert 1:43

Central JV winners: Ken Calloway, Alex Elfrink, Andy Roussel

JR. HIGH BASKETBALL

Central 8th splits

Cape Central's eighth grade boys split two games with Charleston, the `A' team losing 35-32 and the `B' team winning 29-25.

Wayne Wiggins scored 13 points for the 1-4 `A' squad.

Seth Hudson had 10 points for the 2-0 `B' team.