Chaffee girls rally in third, blitz past Scott City at home in thriller-turned-rout

CHAFFEE — It took three quarters for a rivalry of polar opposites to be determined, but the two-loss Chaffee Red Devils’ big third quarter was all they needed to down Scott City and rekindle their winning ways in a 59-43 victory Wednesday night.

In its first home victory in the rivalry since January 2021, Chaffee struggled with foul trouble throughout the first half and dealt with some shooting struggles, but that physicality played a centric role in deciding the outcome.

Fighting out of draws throughout the first half, the Red Devils needed a spark and found it with 19 third-quarter points to take a double-digit lead.

That jolt of energy took the wind out of Scott City’s sails and kept Chaffee undefeated in conference play.

“I thought the effort was there,” Chaffee coach Kennan Elfrink said. “But give Scott City a ton of credit.”

Carlyanne Cossou led all Red Devils in the scoring column, putting in 18 points, while Kiersten Arnold’s 11 and Bailey Robertson’s 10 added depth down the line.

Chaffee improved to 9-2 for the season, fresh off its second loss of the season in its second game of the new year.

Lilyan Landis led Scott City with 16 points, the only Ram to reach double digits. Skylar Watson, who scored nine in the first half, missed the second because of injury.

Scott City is now 1-8 in the 2024-25 season, The Rams showed signs of improvement in Wednesday’s contest, but faltered heavily in the second half without the same shooting stroke of the first.

After taking a crushing 17-point loss to Portageville the day prior, the Red Devils needed to make a big statement Wednesday against a Scott City team that hasn’t had the best go of it this season.

Though a lackluster first half held them back, the response seemed adequate for the moment as the Red Devils righted their woes from Tuesday night and fixed their eyes on a new winning streak heading into the third game of the new year.

When Scott City mounted a 12-7 lead late in the first quarter, Chaffee responded with a quick run to tie it up at 12 at the end of the period.

But Scott City’s resounding answer gave the Rams an eight-point edge early in the second, and the Red Devils needed a response.

A 13-4 run did that job swimmingly and, though the Rams tied it up at halftime, Elfrink’s girls kept that energy going into the second half and never looked back, cracking open a tight game with an explosive third.

“We missed some shots early, but it felt like those shots were going to fall,” Elfrink said. “It's four quarters of basketball.

“I told the kids, ‘Be patient. Keep playing hard, keep competing, continue to rebound. Shots are going to fall.’ Eventually, we got a few easy ones to go and kind of opened up.”