SCOTT CITY BLITZES WOODLAND EARLY

BLOOMFIELD -- Entering Friday night's Class 2A, District 2 championship game with the second-seeded Scott City Rams, the fifth-seeded Woodland Cardinals were hot.

With that said, Scott City's performance in the first half of the title game might best be described as boiling.

"We wanted to come right into this game and take them out as quick as we could," said Scott City senior point guard Tim Lowery. "We just came out here with the attitude we could take them out in the early going."

Mission accomplished.

The state-ranked Rams drilled three 3-pointers in the first quarter and five more before halftime to open up a 23-point advantage. Scott City, ranked sixth in Class 2A, rolled to its third consecutive district title from there with a 67-47 victory. The Rams are 79-11 over the past three years.

"Scott City did to us what we'd been doing," said Woodland coach Jennings Wilkinson, who's team was coming off an upset win off top-seed Kelly on Thursday. "They hit all their shots early and got on a roll. They're confidence level rose and ours dropped."

Woodland, searching for its first district title since 1990, saw its season end with an 18-10 record.

The victory improved Scott City to 27-2 overall, guaranteeing the Rams their best record in the school's history. Scott City's previous best season was in 1995-96 when they finished 27-4. Scott City will face Portageville in Wednesday's 2A Sectional at Cape Central's Tiger Field House.

"This is the best record in the history of the school and we want to keep it going," said Scott City coach Derek McCord. "The seniors don't want it to end, they want it to keep going."

Scott City shot 62 percent in the first quarter (8 of 13) and 57 percent in the second (8 of 14) to take full command of the contest. Amazing offensive numbers, but the Rams' defense was just as effective.

"We knew how explosive Woodland can be and our guys came out very determined defensively," McCord said. "This was one of our best defensive efforts of the year."

Coming off consecutive 50-plus percent shooting nights, Woodland made just 3 of 14 shots in the first quarter and seven of its first 26 before halftime (27 percent). Scott City led 20-6 after one quarter.

"We knew they were a hot shooting team so we had to come out and apply pressure on everybody," said Scott City junior Jon Beck. "It was just all-out intensity from every one of our guys."

Beck made all four of his 3-pointers in the first half and finished with a game-high 22 points. Lowery, playing despite a sprained shooting wrist, also had four 3's and scored 16 points. Senior Howie Stubenrauch had the only other 3-pointer and ended with 10 points.

"It's a great feeling to hit our shots," McCord said. "Tonight we were able to come out and shoot like we're supposed to."

The result was a 43-20 halftime lead.

"I think maybe our kids came out a little too tight or maybe they were a little too pumped up ... I don't know," Wilkinson said. "I feel like we're a better team than what we played tonight, but Scott City also played great."

Senior Greg Lincoln was virtually all the offense Woodland had in the early going. Lincoln scored the Cardinals' first eight points of the contest and finished with a team-high 14 points.

Said Wilkinson: "Greg stepped up and played like a senior and like a leader."

After a quick chat in the locker room at halftime, Scott City was back on the floor warming up for the second half just three minutes after the second quarter ended.

"We wanted to maintain the killer instinct," Beck said. "We knew Woodland was very capable of coming back."

But the Cardinals barely made a dent in the Rams' halftime lead. Woodland only made up three points in the second half, helped by two late 3-pointers from senior Cory Yount.

"At halftime we could have folded the tent and really got blown out, but we kept fighting to the end and I'm proud of that," Wilkinson said. "Some of the guys might be disappointed in their play, but I told them `you can't play perfect every game.'"

But the Rams showed you can for a half.