Scott County Central girls basketball team wins district title with victory over Chaffee

CAMPBELL, Mo. -- The Scott County Central Bravettes had Chaffee's number all year long.

That wasn't about to change when it mattered the most.

SCC's third-straight win over Chaffee led to its third district championship in the last four years on Thursday in a rematch of last year's district final.

The Bravettes (17-8) defeated the Red Devils 56-51 and will play Neelyville (23-4) during their Class 2 sectional on Wednesday at Three Rivers College in Poplar Bluff.

"You can talk about revenge all you want, but district championships are fun," SCC coach Matt Limbaugh said, referring to last year's 63-49 loss to Chaffee. "They never get old and we hope we can build on it."

Johneisha Daniel led the Bravettes with 20 points and controlled the glass with 20 rebounds. Hailey Kesler scored 14 points going 4 for 10 from behind the arc.

"It feels even better to win this because they beat us last year," Daniel said. "I felt like it was a good battle. We wanted it. We wanted it bad."

The Bravettes led 47-42 going into the fourth quarter but couldn't quite pull away for a comfortable finish.

Chaffee (12-15) pulled within one with just over two minutes to play after a bucket from Kate Glueck made it 52-51. A transition layup from Scott Central's Trinity Thomas pushed the top seed's lead back up to three at the 2:00 mark, but the Bravettes were stuck on that lead until there were eight seconds remaining in the game.

SCC had three turnovers and shot 0 for 2 from the field in the final two minutes, which hindered them from separating further.

Chaffee couldn't get the big basket it needed, missing on its last three shot attempts and turning the ball over twice.

"We did a lot of things that you don't want to do in the last two minutes to try and keep the lead, but we pulled it out," Limbaugh said.

A bucket from Thomas, who finished with eight, gave Scott Central an 8-6 lead with 1:05 remaining in the first quarter and the Bravettes never lost that lead throughout. SCC led by as many as seven after that and Chaffee tied the game five times.

A 7-2 run to end the third gave Scott Central a 47-42 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Chaffee 7 17 18 9 -- 51

SCC 11 14 22 9 -- 56

CHAFFEE (51) -- Madeline Hendrix 2, Julia Sutterfield 19, Taylor Kirn 2, Mattison Cline 16, Kate Glueck 11, Bailey Wiseman 1. FG 20 FT 7-25 F 13. (3-pointers: Sutterfield 2, Cline 1. Fouled out: Sutterfield.)

SCOTT CENTRAL (56) -- Trinity Thomas 8, LaQuisha Strickland 6, Hailey Kesler 14, Johneisha Daniel 20, Maddison Avance 2, Chelsea Phillips 4, LaTeisha Strickland 2. FG 23 FT 5-15 F 21. (3-pointers: Kesler 4. Fouled out: Avance.)