Kelly girls basketball falls to Charleston in Scott-Mississippi Tournament quarterfinal

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- The Charleston girls basketball team played to its strengths, jumped out to a quick lead and sank Kelly 62-37 in a quarterfinal of the Scott-Mississippi Girls Basketball Conference Tournament on Monday evening at Chaffee High School.

The fourth-seeded Bluejays (6-3) jumped out 7-0 to open the contest and led 28-16 at halftime as the No. 5 Hawks (2-7) chased the whole night.

"It's just youth. But we don't to use that as an excuse. Let's give Charleston credit," Kelly coach Rod McQuerter said. "They're very athletic, they're very quick and they came out and did what quick, athletic teams do -- they jump on you early and we had to fight our way back. We were down by about 10 the whole game and just fighting and fighting and fighting."

Kelly's Mallory Urhahn tries to shoot as Charleston's Connor Watkins defends during the first quarter of a first-round game in the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament Monday, Jan. 11, 2016 in Chaffee, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

Charleston snagged double-digit steals in the game and made Kelly especially uncomfortable in the early going. The Hawks turned the ball over on five straight possessions at one point in the first half.

"Every game, our goal is for us to have more steals than we have turnovers," Charleston coach Josh Thompson said. "We're not a great offensive team -- we rely on our defense to get our offense a lot of easy looks. Tonight we did that. I'd like to see us convert a little bit more on layups and fast breaks, but we got the win and that's what matters."

The Jays got a layup from Jermanjea Smith, despite a foul, at 2:10 of the first quarter to push the gap to the largest at that point, 13-3. Kelly got an answer just over a minute later when Mallory Urhahn hit a pair of free throws to make things 13-5.

The Hawks had just one field goal in the first quarter, when Tori Duenne put in a layup at the 5:00 mark.

Kelly cut the deficit as close as four points with a solid start to the second quarter, as Marissa Jones hit a jumper and Anna Hughes put the ball in at the rim. Suddenly leading just 13-9, Charleston got a 3-pointer moments later from Connor Watkins, and by the midway point of the period Charleston held a double-digit lead again. The Hawks were unable to find a way to chip away at that gap as the game stretched on.

Charleston senior Cheyenne Randle led all player with her double-double -- 17 points and 12 rebounds. King pitched in 16 points and 10 boards for the victors.

Hughes paced Kelly with 10 points and six rebounds. Tori Duenne added seven points before fouling out with 2:37 left to play. Just two of her points came in the second quarter.

"The positive thing about this tournament is our young girls were able to split up [in a tournament that also features a junior varsity competition]," McQuerter said. "That's the main thing. Right now, this doesn't mean anything. We're just trying to prepare for districts, and that's it.

Kelly's Tori Duenne drives to the basket between Charleston's Cheyenne Randle, left, and Frederica Evans during the first quarter of a first-round game in the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament Monday, Jan. 11, 2016 in Chaffee, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

"We have the same message every day -- positive attitude, play hard, play as a team. I love this group of kids. They're young, but they keep fighting. ... They could have put their heads down, but they didn't. They kept playing hard."

The Hawks played some of their best basketball of the game in the third quarter, outscored just 12-11 in the period. Hughes opened the quarter with a long jump shot before Watkins answered for the Bluejays with a free throw and a 3-pointer.

Kelly was able to trade blows, it's just that the punches Charleston landed were bigger. The Jays began to heat up from long range and Watkins' triple started a string of three consecutive 3s for her side. By the time Clintazia Clark drained a 3-pointer at 2:15 of the third quarter, Charleston led 38-21.

"They gave [the 3-point line] to us the whole game, [but] in the first half we wanted to concentrate on pounding the ball down low," Thompson said. "But we had confidence that our kids could shoot and when we shot it that our kids could get the offensive rebound. When we saw the ball go in a few times, the hole got bigger."

Hawks freshman Lynsey Powers drove to the basket at 1:44 of the third and Hailey Noon got to the rim less than a minute later before Kelly closed out the third with a pair of free throws from Duenne to go to the final period of play trailing 40-27.

Charleston got back to what it does best to start the fourth, getting transition buckets from Sharell Woods and Randle, and the Bluejays pulled away with a 22-point final quarter.

The Jays advance to face the winner of tonight's No. 1 Oran vs. No. 8 Scott City game in a semifinal at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Kelly 5 11 11 10 -- 37

Charleston 13 15 12 22 -- 62

KELLY (37) -- Emmy Bolen 4, Tori Duenne 7, Mallory Urhahn 4, Hailey Noon 5, Anna Hughes 10, Marissa Jones 3, Lynsey Powers 4. FG 11-46, FT 15-22, F 17. (3-pointers: None. Fouled out: Duenne.)

CHARLESTON (62) -- Danita Jones 3, Sharell Woods 8, Cheyenne Randle 17, Chanelle Quinn 7, Connor Watkins 16, Frederica Evans 2, Jermanjea Smith 2, Clintazia Clark 6, A'shanta Whitney 1. FG 21-67, FT 13-22, F 20. (3-pointers: Quinn 2, Watkins 2, Clark 2, Jones. Fouled out: None.)

Scott Co. Central 76, East Prairie 34

Trinity Thomas sank a game-high 27 points to lead the second-seeded Bravettes to victory over the seventh-seeded Eagles in the opening round of the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament.

Johneisha Daniel added 18 points for Scott County Central (9-4). The Bravettes posted a 45-18 lead at halftime and outscored the Eagles by 15 points in the second half.

Bethany Ferrell and Megan Chaney had seven points apiece to pace East Prairie (1-8).

Scott County Central will face the winner of tonight's quarterfinal between third-seeded Chaffee and sixth-seeded Delta in a semifinal at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday.

East Prairie 10 8 5 11 -- 34

Scott County 26 19 28 3 -- 76

EAST PRAIRIE (34) -- Jocee Dunn 3, Jordan Harper 4, Dakota Arnold 5, Megan Chaney 7, Bethany Ferrell 7, Montana Watson 4, Summer Maxwell 4. FG 11, FT 3-6, F 14 (3-pointers: Ferrell 2, Arnold. Fouled out: Watson.)

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL (76) -- Trinity Thomas 27, LaQuisha Strickland 9, Hailey Kesler 4, Johneisha Daniel 18, Maddison Avance 16, LaTeisha Strickland 2. FG 33, FT 10-18, F 12 (3-pointers: None. Fouled out: None.)