Sikeston bullies Cape Central girls basketball to stay alive in conference race

Cape Central girls basketball coach Garrett Pannier has focused on improvement and encouraging signs with his young squad all year, but Wednesday night will be one his team will just want to forget.

Visiting Sikeston opened the game on a 9-0 run -- with all points coming off turnovers -- and never trailed, bullying the Tigers in a 68-24 result at Central High School.

The Bulldogs (18-4, 4-1 SEMO Conference) outscored Central 29-1 in the second quarter to lead by 39 points, 47-8, at halftime.

"All year we've had quarters or halves of games where we haven't shown up and done what we're supposed to do," Central coach Garrett Pannier said. "From the very start of the game, we knew they were going to press us. They play faster than any other team we've played. That's what they do -- they turn you over and they make you play their style of basketball. We knew that and knew that and knew that, and unfortunately we let it get into our head right from the get-go, and we never, ever recovered.

"It's disappointing that this is the first time all year where we didn't show up for four straight quarters. This is something we have to learn from."

Cape Central's Quetaja Martin drives down the court against Sikeston's Tyra Bonner in the first quarter Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016 at Cape Central High School.Glenn Landberg

Tyra Bonner led Sikeston with 13 points and Steward added 12. Antravia Green came off the bench to tally nine points.

Abbie Reece was Central's top scorer with seven points.

The result allows Sikeston to remain in the race for the SEMO Conference title with one conference tilt remaining. The Bulldogs' only conference loss came at the hands of Jackson. Those two teams each wrap up the regular season against the third horse in the race -- Dexter.

"The focus was to stay alive in the SEMO Conference race. We needed this one to do that, and we did that," Sikeston coach Matt Schonhoff said. "Also to keep a good pace and make sure we're not flat going into the last week of the regular season. ... Everything we needed to do tonight, we did."

Erica Peet opened the scoring just 13 seconds in and Kiera Steward knocked down a 3-pointer just 25 seconds later. Steward then took the ball coast to coast at 6:39 of the first quarter to give Sikeston a 9-0 advantage, feasting on Central turnovers.

Cape Central's Corrie Reece pushes past Sikeston's Kiera Steward in the second quarter Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016 at Cape Central High School.Glenn Landberg

The Tigers (4-17, 0-5) were able to respond, with a Katherine Morton jumper sandwiched by a pair of Abbie Reece baskets in the paint. That pulled the home side within three, 9-6, with 5:02 on the clock.

Sikeston kept the tempo high on both ends of the floor and quickly took back control, ending the quarter on a 7-1 run to take an 18-7 lead after eight minutes.

"We knew Cape is very capable," Schonoff said. "They've played a lot of SEMO Conference teams close and at certain points in the games gave them problems. The message was we need to get out fast and control things, and we did that.

"Offensively, I thought we cut well, passed well, hit the shot when we needed to and hit free throws extremely well. We did a great job rebounding. Pretty much ever facet of the game we did well."

The Bulldogs blistered Central in the second quarter. The Tigers' only point of the period came on a Quetaja Martin free throw at 6:26. They didn't score again until 6:03 of the third quarter.

Sikeston's Tyeshia Mitchell and Cape Central's Corrie Reece look to a referee for a call in the third quarter Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016 at Cape Central High School.Glenn Landberg

By then, there was no question as to how the game would play out.

The Bulldogs put together a 10-0 run to close the third quarter, with Steward scoring in transition in and Miranda Harrison laying the ball in on a backdoor cut to make the score 61-12 -- the biggest gap of the night -- heading into the final quarter.

Central opened the fourth on back-to-back buckets, both sparked by Corrie Reece steals, but the result was a foregone conclusion by then.

"For us, we just need to erase this game," Pannier said. "We didn't do the things we do well at all. There's not a whole lot of good things to come out of this game, so we've just got to erase it. We go to Perryville tomorrow, which is a game we can compete in, so we can't worry about [this one]. I told the girls not to even think about basketball tonight. Just erase it and move on."

After traveling to Perryville tonight, the Tigers wrap up their regular season hosting St. Clair on Feb. 25.

Sikeston hosts Festus on Monday before a decisive contest with Dexter on Feb. 25.

"At the beginning of the year you sit down and go over what you want to go over," Schonoff said. "First thing's first, you want to take care of every game. Then conference comes first and then districts. If we're lucky enough to get past districts, we're lucky enough. We're still alive in the conference race, which is what we wanted to be, and we'll see what happens next week."

Sikeston 18 29 14 7 -- 68

Cape Central 7 1 4 12 -- 24

SIKESTON (68) -- Kiera Steward 12, Tyra Bonnre 13, Erica Peet 2, Miranda Harrison 5, Tyeshia Mitchell 8, Alana Basham 7, Antravia Green 9, Larysa McClellan 8, Cana Bles 2, Jafonia Biddle 2. FG 24-48, FT 16-25, F 13. (3-pointers: Steard 2, Bonner, Green. Fouled out: None.)

CAPE CENTRAL (24) -- Corrie Reece 5, Katherine Morton 2, Abbie Reece 7, Quetaja Martin 2, Salia Hamilton 2, Kassidy Gowan 2, Ul-Envi Johnson 2, Abigail Leimer 2. FG 9-33, FT 5-15, F 18. (3-pointers: C. Reece. Fouled out: None.)