Slow start dooms Delta girls against East Prairie

~ The Bobcats fell behind 12-0 on the way to a 54-19 loss to the Eagles

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Delta girls basketball coach Gary Poyner's worst nightmare came true.

He knew his Bobcats could not afford to let East Prairie get off to a quick start in their Lady Devils Invitational Tournament opener Wednesday night at Chaffee. But that's exactly what happened as the Eagles jumped to a 12-0 lead midway through the first period on their way to a convincing 54-19 victory.

"We hurt ourselves at times," Poyner said. "If we had just taken care of the ball, made smarter passes, the game would have been a little different, I think.

"But give credit to East Prairie. ... Those girls are physical and they play hard. They get after it."

Delta (0-2), seeded fifth in the tournament, simply couldn't match the Eagles' intensity from the outset. The Bobcats trailed 17-6 after one period and 29-10 at the half, hitting just 4 of 15 shots and turning the ball over 14 times in the first two quarters.

Those turnovers allowed East Prairie's transition game to dictate the tempo, and the Eagles took full advantage.

They were 12 of 28 from the field in the first half, and it would have been much worse if not for several missed shots from underneath the hoop and woeful 1-of-6 shooting from the free throw line.

Delta’s Jaime Hodge shoots over East Prairie’s Caitlyn Harwell during the third quarter of their first-round game of the Lady Devils Invitational on Wednesday in Chaffee, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

"We talked about starting well and playing well to the end," said East Prairie coach Steven Douglas as his squad evened it's record at 1-1. "We missed a few layups that I wish we would not be in the habit of missing, but I thought we handled the ball well. They pressured us some, and we didn't have a lot of turnovers. We were deliberate on offense. We didn't take the first shot available and moved the ball."

The Eagles kept up the pressure in the second half and were able to feed senior forward Kaitlyn Shands, who scored nine of her 13 points after halftime.

"Coach told me that we'd have the [height] advantage over them, so we wanted to drive the ball and take it to the hoop," Shands said.

Fellow senior Rebekah Douglas led East Prairie, the tourney's fourth seed, with 16 points on an assortment of drives and second-chance shots.

"In the second half, we were able to pressure out of our half-court defense, get down the floor and get some layups," Steven Douglas said. "I was happy with that."

When all was said and done, Delta hit just 7 of 35 shots from the field and turned tha ball over 25 times.

"All we can do is get back in the gym, concentrate on the things we need to work on and just get better," Poyner said.

East Prairie advanced to meet top-seeded Woodland today at 7 p.m. Woodland defeated Puxico 65-31 in the day's first game. Delta faces Puxico today at 4 p.m. in the consolation bracket.

"We were out of school since last week Thursday," Poyner noted. "But we should have come out to play better than we did."

Delta 6 4 6 3 -- 19

East Prairie 17 12 11 14 -- 54

DELTA (19) -- Tia May 3, Carrie Waddle 1, Chasity Taylor 4, Shiann Clayborn 2, Selina Smith 2, Rachel Birkman 7. FG: 7. FT: 3-6. Total fouls: 20. (3-pointers: Birkman 1, May 1. Fouled out: none.)

EAST PRAIRIE (54) -- Rebekah Douglas 16, Dakota Arnold 5, Caitlyn Harwell 12, Kaitlyn Shands 13, Bethany Ferrell 3, Kali Thurman 5. FG: 19. FT: 13-21. Total fouls: 9. (3-pointers: Harwell 2, Arnold 1. Fouled out: none)