LADY TIGERS FALL TO DEFENDING STATE CHAMPS IN TOURNEY

ST. LOUIS -- Despite losing 38-32 to Gateway Tech in Tuesday's semifinals of the Oakville Tournament, Cape Girardeau Central High girls basketball coach Paula Watkins came away impressed with her team's performance against the defending Missouri Class 4A state champion.

"You're disappointed when you lose, but I couldn't be any prouder of the way we played," said Watkins. "To lose to the defending state champions by six points...I thought we did a very good job defensively."

Kim Aslinger and Katie Dougherty both scored 10 points for Central (1-1).

The Lady Tigers will play for third place at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

Also Tuesday, Central's JV lost to Nerinx Hall 27-22 in the semifinals of the Mehlville Tournament. The Lady Tigers' JV will also play Thursday at 5:30 p.m. for third place.

Jackson 64, Farmington 49

FARMINGTON -- Despite turning the ball over 25 times and committing 21 fouls -- numbers coach Ron Cook wasn't pleased with -- Jackson won its season opener Tuesday in the semifinals of the Farmington Tournament.

But Cook wasn't totally dissatisfied, and he said numbers like that often accompany games early in the season.

Jackson, the top seed, will play either North County or Park Hills Central Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the championship game.

Jackson's Christa Millham, who has already signed to play at New Mexico State next season, led all scorers with 17 points. Melissa Palmer added 12 points and Cherish Tillman totaled 11.

Jackson led 15-9 after one quarter and 35-20 at halftime.

Perryville 68, Doniphan 57

PERRYVILLE -- Perryville saw three seniors score at least 19 points each in a victory over Doniphan Tuesday.

Renee Kaempfe led the ways with a game-high 23 points while April Watts scored 20 and Laura Ernst added 19. No other Lady Pirate scored more than four points.

"My three seniors really stepped it up at the end," said Perryville coach Vicki Lohmann.

With the score tied 31-31 at halftime, Perryville (3-1) outscored Doniphan 21-9 in the third quarter to take control.

The Lady Pirates are off until Dec. 11 when they visit New Madrid.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Oran Tournament

ORAN -- Fourth-seeded Scott County Central advanced to the semifinals of the Oran Tournament Tuesday with an 83-54 victory over fifth-seeded Bell City.

Scott County will face top-seeded Kelly Thursday at 7 p.m. in the first of two semifinals. Third-seeded Oran and seventh-seeded Puxico will follow at 8:30. Bell City and Leopold will start the evening with a 5:30 consolation game.

John Fort scored a game-high 31 points to lead four Braves in double figures. Jreece Johnson tallied 14 points and Travis Blackmon and Jason Gipson each contributed a dozen.

Justin Stephens scored a team-high 21 points for Bell City and Matt Knoderer added 17.

In Tuesday's consolation semifinal, Twin Rivers defeated Richland 76-62.

Heath Hartwell led Twin Rivers with 22 points while Pete Rutanga scored 21 for Richland.

Woodland Tournament

MARBLE HILL -- Third-seeded and host Woodland moved into the semifinals of its own tournament by beating No. 6 Advance 71-45 Tuesday.

In Thursday's semifinals, top-seeded Delta will play No. 4 Perryville at 7 and Woodland will take on No. 2 Bloomfield at 8:30. There will also be a consolation semifinal between Zalma and Advance at 5:30.

Corey Yount scored 17 points to lead Woodland Tuesday. Also in double figures were Greg Lincoln (15), David Massa (14) and Jason Bandermann (10).

Gary Ahern had 21 for Advance while Seth Cantrell added 10.

In Tuesday's consolation semifinal, Oak Ridge outlasted Meadow Heights 91-88 in overtime.

Leading Oak Ridge were Nick Friese (27), Eric Hobeck (22) and Matt Prueser (17). Meadow Heights got 32 points from Kevin Weaver, 14 from Seth Revelle and 12 from Brandon Boyd.

Arcadia Valley 69, St. Vincent 39

ARCADIA VALLEY -- Because of its football success, St. Vincent played its season opener Tuesday just nine days after practice started.

Coach Bruce Valleroy said his Indians looked just like one might expect they might.

Arcadia Valley (4-0) led 21-8 after one quarter and 35-15 at halftime.

Kyle Edgars, who scored 12 points, was St. Vincent's only double-digit scorer.

Portageville 81, Chaffee 36

PORTAGEVILLE -- A strong Portageville squad routed Chaffee in the Red Devils' season opener Tuesday.

Greg Thomas had 15 points for Portageville, which is 2-0. No Chaffee player scored more than six points.

WRESTLING

Murphysboro (Ill.) 50, Cape Central 15

MURPHYSBORO, Ill. -- In its season opener Tuesday, Cape Central ran into a Murphysboro team that had already had four meets and was in better physical condition than the Tigers.

Central's winners were Keith Benton, Ben Allen, Troy Sikes and Craig Knoth.

"We lost several close matches," said Central coach Drew Lilledahl.

Murphysboro 50, Cape Central 15

103 -- Robin Roth (M) pinned Paul Miller, 1:03

112 -- Keith Benton (C) beat Logan Reiger, 10-9

119 -- Steven Baskin (M) pinned Eric Henry, 1:18

125 -- Ben Allen (C) beat A.J. Burkey, 12-10 OT

130 -- Brad Brown (M) beat Greg Chenoweth, 7-4

135 -- Joe Melvin (M) pinned Travis Kaufman, :44

140 -- Jeff Reiman (M) pinned Brandon Benanati, 2:51

145 -- Adam McCann (M) beat Justin Goodrich by technical fall, 1:45

152 -- Doug Fuller (M) pinned Jamell Austin, 1:02

160 -- Troy Sikes (C) pinned James Coutes, 4:38

171 -- David Murray (M) pinned Otis Turner, :36

189 -- Matt Strong (M) beat Matt Strickland, 11-7

215 -- Adnrew Wilson (M) beat Alex Elfrink, 11-7

HWT -- Craig Knoth (C) beat Wilson Moore, 3-2

Central JV winners: Nick Harter, Aaron Picar, Andy Roussel

Jackson 83, New Madrid 0

JACKSON -- Jackson started its season in a resounding way by destroying visiting New Madrid County Central Tuesday. It was the Indians' 47th straight dual-match victory.

Twelve of the 14 Indians won their matches by pin. The other two wins came by a technical fall and a default.

"New Madrid has a young team, but they did have a full team," said Jackson coach Steve Wachter. "We both had a long football season, so it's hard to determine much from this."

Jackson's JV won 72-6.

Jackson 83, New Madrid 0

103 -- Chris Brown (J) pinned Aaron Pointer, :49

112 -- Brett Stroud (J) pinned Camden Bock, 1:16

119 -- Keil Johnson (J) pinned Jermaine Smith, :39

125 -- Eric Rhodes (J) pinned Brain Hunt, 1:54

130 -- Lance Schlick (J) pinned Jamie King, 2:16

135 -- Kyle Watson (J) pinned Jyttone Fountain, 1:30

140 -- Jason Goben (J) pinned Donald Hart, :57

145 -- Cory Jaco (J) beat Jason Warfield by technical fall, 18-3

152 -- Mark Wade (J) pinned Nick Hogan, 1:39

160 -- Hance Bartels (J) pinned Adam Hayes, 1:04

171 -- Lance McClard (J) pinned Chris Kolwyck, 1:02

189 -- Spencer Hobeck (J) beat John Hunter by default

215 -- Kent Langston (J) pinned Mark Keene, 1:03

HWT -- Aaron Ross (J) pinned John Grabmeyer, 1:27

Jackson JV winners: Drew Howard, John Bolen, Josh Deneke, Adam Wachter, Kyle Huck, Kyle Heck, Chris Freeman, Eric Graham, Kevin Brunke, Dustin Baker, Andy Herndon, Tim Spradlin

BOYS SWIMMING

Lafayette 119, Cape Central 79

ST. LOUIS -- Although Cape Central lost its first meet of the season to defending state champion Lafayette Tuesday, it was one of the best season openers ever for the Tigers.

Central posted fast times that already qualified four Tigers in six events for the state meet.

Central coach Dayna Powell said it was unusual to have so many swimmers qualify this early in the season.

In the 50-meter freestyle race, junior Eric Yount set a Central record in 22.55 seconds and qualified. Yount also qualified in the 100 freestyle (51.47).

Ben Roeger, Ben Higgins, Jason Owen and Yount qualified in the medley relay (1:47.51). Owen qualified in the 200 IM (2:04.21) and the 500 freestyle (4:47.50) and Roeger in the 100 backstroke (:59.86), although he finished second in the race.