LADY TIGERS HAND SCOTT CITY FIRST SETBACK OF SEASON

The Scott City Lady Rams hoped to be one of only three undefeated basketball teams as the eight-team HealthSouth Holiday Classic starts today.

The Cape Central Lady Tigers had other ideas Monday night.

The Lady Tigers never gave visiting Scott City a chance, using their quickness on defense to open a 17-4 first-quarter lead and rolling to a 56-32 victory.

Central outscored the Lady Rams in every quarter to improve to 4-1. Scott City, coming off a championship in the Chaffee Tournament over the weekend, fell to 5-1.

"We got ourselves down and when you get down to a team that has the talent of Cape, it's very tough to get back," said Scott City coach Randall White. "We went out and took some bad shots to start the ball game, but the big thing was we didn't get on the boards."

The Lady Tigers' athletic ability certainly came into play early. Dionna Webb, a 5-7 sophomore, grabbed all five of her rebounds in the first quarter and was one of four Lady Tigers to score at least four points in the opening eight minutes.

Kim Aslinger scored five points in the first quarter and finished with a team-high 11. Webb added 10 points. Scott City's Amy O'Brien dropped in three 3-pointers and had a game-high 15 points.

"We had a good intensity level and we just had better athletes on the floor than (Scott City) did," said Central coach Paula Watkins. "If you have better athletes and they're playing hard, then good things are going to happen for you."

Good things happened early, and often, for the Lady Tigers. Central pushed its first-quarter lead to 32-10 at halftime after a last-second 3-pointer by junior Erica McDonald.

McDonald's three answered a 3-pointer by O'Brien that made the score 29-10 with just 15 seconds left in the first half. The Lady Tigers calmly moved down the court and as the clock wound down, Webb found McDonald trailing at the top of the key for an open three. McDonald's three bounced off the backboard and in to keep the momentum in Central's favor at the half.

O'Brien scored for Scott City to start the second half, but the Lady Tigers scored the next eight points to take their largest lead of the game. With a 40-12 lead with 3:30 left in the third quarter, Watkins took out her five starters and played her reserves the rest of the way.

"It was a good win for us and everybody got a chance to play, which was nice," said Watkins.

Central's bench still played well against Scott City's regulars. The Lady Rams only outscored Central 20-16 the rest of the game.

"The thing I'm not happy with is we can give a much better defensive effort," White said. "We did not do the things we are capable of doing."

Considering the record of the Lady Rams and their successful history recently, Watkins was impressed with her team's domination.

"Any time we beat anybody big it could be a surprise," said Watkins with a laugh. "I've told the team `I feel we could lose every game or we could win every game.' Any game we play I expect it to be close."

Central, the No. 4 seed in the HealthSouth Classic, should be in for a close battle today at 5:30 p.m. against fifth-seed Perryville (5-1). Scott City, the seventh seed, plays No. 2 Jackson (4-0) at 7 p.m.