LADY TIGERS FALL TO BLUFF FOR THIRD TIME

FARMINGTON, Mo. -- Poplar Bluff did everything quicker than the Cape Central Lady Tigers Tuesday night.

The Lady Mules (23-2) ran quicker, jumped quicker, passed quicker, thought quicker and scored quicker as the Lady Tigers were overmatched 58-42 in the semifinals of the Class 4A, District 1 Tournament at the Farmington Civic Center.

They quickly pointed out why they're the third-ranked team in Class 4A.

"If you've got great guards and quickness, that's the great equalizer for size," said Cape Central coach Mark Ruark. "Without Megan (McDonald), our point guard, it was tough. But I'm not making excuses. Hey, they beat us three times, twice on neutral floors. They're just better than us and they played better than we did tonight."

Poplar Bluff's suffocating man-to-man defense was difficult for the forward-oriented Lady Tigers.

"Cape's a big team and that's their advantage," said Poplar Bluff coach Kirk Chronister. "And quickness is our advantage over them. And something else that helped us out was that we shot well and rebounded well."

Central, which trailed 34-15 with 5:11 to go in the third quarter, managed to get the ball inside, make some shots and draw some fouls midway through the period. After a 3-pointer by Jessica Sinn and a put-in by Heather Jenkins with 1:08 left in the third, Central found itself trailing just 36-29. But the Lady Mules scored the next four points and led 40-29 going into the final eight minutes.

"Cape has got a good ballclub and Coach Ruark does a good job with them," said Chronister. "They're not going to quit. During that time we weren't rebounding and we went on a cold spell where we missed about three shots in a row."

The Lady Tigers couldn't mount any type of a comeback in the fourth as Central scored just one point on its first six possessions in the final eight minutes. During those six possessions, Central turned the ball over four times and Poplar Bluff outscored Central 8-1 and held a 50-32 lead with 3:23 to go.

Cape Central turned the ball over 15 times on the game.

Central got off to a miserable start falling in a 9-2 hole and trailing 11-4 going into the second quarter.

"I felt we needed to come out strong," Ruark said. "The first two times we played them we got out to bad starts. It was only seven points this time, but we needed to have a better start."

Poplar Bluff outscored Cape Central 16-9 in the second quarter for a 27-13 halftime lead.

Central was led in scoring by Sarah Hyslop and Heather Jenkins with 12 points apiece. Poplar Bluff had only four players score, but all-stater Ashley Williams scored 24 and Nicole Rivers poured in 18. Jessica Wilson added 10.