Cape Girardeau Central High's girls basketball team steadily pulled away to post a 59-45 victory over visiting New Madrid County Central Monday night.

The Lady Tigers led 14-11 after one quarter, 29-22 at halftime and 45-33 entering the final period as they improved to 16-3.

Mindy Hoffman continued her recent strong play by leading the Lady Tigers with 17 points. Katie Dougherty added 14.

"We didn't shoot the ball real well, but we played pretty hard and overall we did all right," said Cape Central coach Darrick Smith. "Mindy shot the ball well, as she has been doing."

Cape Central will now prepare for Thursday's home game with rival Jackson. A win for the Lady Tigers would virtually clinch the SEMO Conference title while a Lady Indians' victory would force a three-way tie between Jackson, Cape Central and Poplar Bluff.

"That's always a big one," said Smith. "We're looking forward to it."

Jackson 63, Sikeston 30

SIKESTON -- Jackson moved back above the .500 mark with an easy victory.

The Lady Indians, who improved to 10-9, were led by Cherish Tillman with 26 points and Andrea Koeper with 17.

Sikeston (13-10) got 14 points from Marci Eaves.

Jackson led 36-18 at halftime and pulled away even more in the second half.

Perryville 64, St. Pius 30

HILLSBORO -- Perryville put an exclamation on its third consecutive undefeated season in the Jefferson County Conference with a sound victory over St. Pius.

Perryville completed its conference season at 9-0 and improved to 12-9 overall.

"We were challenged this year," said Perryville coach Vickie Lohman. "We were told we wouldn't do it again by a lot of the teams in the conference.

"It's a credit to this year's seniors and juniors. We returned only one starter from last year. To do this this year is something special."

Monday's outcome was never in doubt as Perryville jumped out to a 21-3 lead in the first quarter and led 42-14 by halftime.

Stacy Baer, Angie Bohnert and Amanda Schumer each netted 13 points for the Lady Pirates.

Scott City 52, Delta 48

SCOTT CITY -- Several freshmen played key roles for a young Scott City squad in its narrow triumph over Delta.

Freshmen Jenny Pinkston scored a team-high 14 points while Rachel Spinks added 11. Another frosh, Amber Dannenmueller, was credited by coach Randall White with a strong performance in aiding Scott City's press.

The Lady Rams (5-9) also got a big game from one of their two seniors as Lisa Sanders had 13 points, nine rebounds and three steals.

Delta's Rebecca Below scored a game-high 23 points.

Kelly 76, Charleston 59

BENTON -- Marissa Essner reached a career milestone as she helped lead Kelly to another victory.

Essner, a junior, scored 27 points as she became only the fourth female player ever at Kelly to go over 1,000 points in her career.

Audrey Burford also scored 27 points for the Lady Hawks (17-3).

"That's quite a milestone for Marissa," said Kelly coach Curtis Finley. "She and Audrey really helped us get off to a good start tonight."

Essner scored 12 first-quarter points while Burford had 11 as the Lady Hawks led 30-9 after the opening period.

Charleston got 16 points from Jodi Bledsoe and 14 from Dreelle Mathis.

Festus 36, St. Vincent 28

FESTUS -- St. Vincent hit just four of 11 free throws and lost a low-scoring Jefferson County Conference game.

The Squaws (13-6, 5-4 conference) were led by Danielle Sutterer with12 points.

Oran 55, Woodland 23

ORAN -- Ashley Dirnberger scored 16 points and Sara Heisserer added 13 as Oran led 30-8 at halftime and romped to victory.

Lilo Whitener scored 17 of Woodland's 23 points.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Chaffee 80, Marquand 67

CHAFFEE -- Perry Rice scored a season-high 34 points and the Red Devils played a strong second half to record just their second win of the season.

Chaffee (2-14) trailed 46-34 at halftime, but outscored Marquand 47-21 in the second half.

"Our kids just played their guts out," said Chaffee coach Tim Corley. "Perry Rice had the best game since he's been here at Chaffee."

The junior point guard hit on 11 of 14 free throws as Chaffee connected on 27 of 31 as a team.

"He was on," added Corley.

Chase Eskew added 20 points and Sean Hampton finished with 16.

Doug Rehkop led Marquand with 17 points while Heath and Ryan Stephens each tallied 15.

Marquand saw its 21 second-half points fall short of its point totals in either of the first two quarters.

Bell City 49, Bloomfield 42

BELL CITY -- Nathan Walter scored 19 points to lead Bell City.

The Cubs (8-10) also got 14 points from Gabe Scherer and 11 from Eric Henry.

Bell City led just 14-12 at halftime and 30-25 after three quarters.