ND AVENGES LOSS TO CENTRAL

The Notre Dame Lady Bulldogs turned a negative situation into a positive one.

No. 2 seed Notre Dame (9-2) downed fourth-seeded Cape Central 40-33 to take third place in the HealthSouth Holiday Classic at the Show Me Center on Friday.

Central fell to 5-3 on the season, as Notre Dame avenged a loss to the Lady Tigers earlier this month.

Playing without their high-scoring center Deana McCormick, who sat out a one-game suspension following an ejection in the Poplar Bluff game on Thursday, the Lady Bulldogs executed their game plan to perfection.

"I'm very proud of these girls," said Notre Dame coach Jerry Grim. "Losing our starting center like that could have caused a big drop in our play, but the kids stepped up for her tonight."

Lisa Millham, Notre Dame's sharpshooting guard, was the catalyst as she led with 19 points -- 12 in the pivotal third quarter as she hit 4-of-4 huge 3-pointers to keep her team in control.

"We were working on having patience, working the ball around and getting open shots," said Millham.

Notre Dame had a 13-6 advantage after the first quarter and held that edge throughout the second period to lead 20-13 at the half.

"I knew at halftime we were in trouble," said a prophetic Cape Central coach Mark Ruark, "because I knew Notre Dame would come out and run their delay game and not take anything but layups or open three's."

Cape Central, appearing sluggish at times, did manage to close the gap to 20-17 early in the third quarter.

Then Lisa Millham went on her 3-point binge, nailing three in a row on successive possessions to widen the margin to 29-19 and give the Lady Bulldogs a little breathing room.

An Alisha Burns field goal and free throw followed by Millham's last trey of the quarter -- at the horn -- put Notre Dame up 35-22 going into the final stanza.

Forced to foul in the fourth quarter, the Lady Tigers had some opportunities to get back in it, but could not capitalize. Notre Dame missed 6-of-9 free-throw attempts down the stretch and had only one field goal in the final quarter.

But the Lady Tigers could not find the bottom of the net, as they hit only 1-of-7 from the field in the final four minutes.

"We're a team that has to play with intensity and emotion," said Ruark, "and we played with neither tonight."

Ashley Millham chipped in with 10 points -- including six of Notre Dame's seven second-quarter points.

Katie Dougherty led the Lady Tigers with 12, while Heather Jenkins had eight.

* In the fifth-place game, Farmington defeated Massac County 67-57.

Perryville won the seventh-place game 67-63 over Hopkinsville as Jamie Amberger led the way with 30 points.