STATEMENT WIN: Lady Mules ride defense to rout of Cape Central

It was an opportunity for the Poplar Bluff Lady Mules to not only jump start the 2023 half of the current campaign, but also an opportunity to dish out a bit of revenge.

With Cape Central in town Thursday night, the Lady Mules aimed for payback from a loss to the Lady Tigers and were paid back in full.

Using a tremendous first half of play featuring a tone-setting defensive approach and efficient scoring attacks, the Lady Mules cruised to a 57-25 win.

Leading Poplar Bluff (3-8) in scoring were Adrienne Casey (16 points), Kennedy Zgaynor (nine) and Darnesha Danner (eight) as nine Lady Mules got in the scorebook.

“I feel pretty good and it shows how much we’ve improved in a short period of time and how well we are working together as the season progresses,” Casey said. “This was about character — we never gave up and stayed together as a team than we had previously. (The last game) we battled the whole time and it kind of slipped away from us. I felt stronger and my shots were connecting. I was able to move easier against their defense. We moved the ball really well.”

The defense more than did its part as well.

“The little (Rakiara) Bogan girl is pretty good and she split us a few times — and they were missing a couple of girls tonight — but this was a good game for us just to play the entire lineup and work on different things,” Poplar Bluff head coach John David Pattillo said. “We need a game like this once in a while. We’ve had a few of the others too much.

“Our kids executed and did what we asked them to do. Their little halfcourt trap hurt us the last time they played us and tonight we handled it well.”

Poplar Bluff came out on the front foot as it found plenty of gaps in a Central (2-6) defense that was a step slow and allowed three Mules baskets at the tin without breaking the seal on the rim 90 feet the other way.

When Mikalla Little hit a 10-footer with just over five minutes left in the opening quarter the host led 9-0.

The Poplar Bluff defense made things difficult for Cape in the half court, but a couple inconvenient turnovers allowed the Lady Tigers to stay in striking range.

A Little triple late in the period pushed the Lady Mules to a 16-6 lead and they held a 16-8 advantage after eight minutes.

Poplar Bluff’s defense made the difference.

“We did a lot better job playing contain,” Pattillo said. “Their best offense is to run down the middle and Bogan can split you. Your post players have to give help and you get in trouble. The girls did a good job. We tried to double Bogan to not let her get too many (opportunities).”

The lead was pumped up to 20-9 early in the second quarter on a nifty dish from Eads to Casey for a layup-and-one.

A minute later, Clara Rahlmann drilled an icy 3 from the left corner and the lead was moved to 25-10. That opened the floodgates as the Poplar Bluff lead puffed up to 33-11 as a number of PBHS players tickled the twine for buckets.

The scorching first half wrapped with the Lady Mules settling for a 33-13 lead.

The rout continued after the break as the Lady Mules refused to lower the standard they had set and led by as many as 31 points en route to a 48-19 edge heading into the fourth quarter.

Poplar Bluff plays Wentzville Holt 1 p.m. Saturday at St. Joseph’s Academy in St. Louis.