Campbell holds off Lady Tigers to reach finals

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Campbell's Shana Bader (center) loses the handle on the basketball as she is pressured by Caruthersville's Janique Prather (left) and Cambria Wooden during the first half of Thursday's Bootheel Conference Tournament girls' varsity semifinal game at Senath. [Click to enlarge]

SENATH, Mo. -- Early in the season, the Campbell Lady Camels struggled as they reloaded with new faces after winning their first district title last winter.

Now that this season is headed into the home stretch, the Lady Camels are hoping that's behind them as they reached the finals of the Bootheel Conference Tournament with a 61-59 win over the Caruthersville Lady Tigers here Thursday night.

"We kind of went through a rough spell where we were trying to see what kind of team we were going to be with our new juniors and everybody kind of finding their role," Campbell coach Daren Ellsworth said. "We've kind of put together some good wins and (now) we get another shot at (top-seeded) Portageville."

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Jerica Wheeler (right) dribbles around a Portageville defender during Thursday's Bootheel Conference Tournament girls' junior varsity semifinal game at Senath. [Click to enlarge]

In Thursday's other semifinal, Portageville routed fourth-seeded Malden 80-39. In junior varsity action, top-seeded Senath-Hornersville downed Campbell 44-18 and No. 2 Kennett got past Portageville 42-29.

In varsity action, the Lady Camels (10-7) overcame a big night by the Lady Tigers' Kyisha Ricks, who scored a game-high 31 points -- 16 of them in the fourth quarter as Caruthersville rallied from a 10-point deficit.

"You can tell she just wants it as bad as anyone else," said Ellsworth. "She's hard to contain. ... We just try to contain her as best we can."

Campbell led 45-35 as the fourth quarter began, but Ricks scored 11 of her team's 14 points to open the period to make it a one-point game (50-49) with 3:03 showing on the clock.

A basket by Chelsea Bledsoe and a free throw from Elisha Deen push the Lady Camels' lead to 53-49, but Caruthersville took a 56-55 lead as Ricks capped a 7-2 spurt with a bucket at the 1:15 mark.

That's when Campbell regrouped, retaking the lead on Morgan McCormick's basket with 1:07 to go and sealing the game with four straight free throws in the final 10 seconds.

The Lady Camels trailed 30-29 after the half, but used a big third quarter to seize the advantage.

Campbell opened the period on an 8-2 run to go up 37-32 early in the third, then closed the half on a 6-0 spurt to lead by 10 entering the final frame.

"We kept the aggressiveness that we had the first half and that let us set up our offense and go to the rim," Ellsworth said, "which is (what we want)."

McCormick led the Lady Camels with 21 points, while Bledsoe added 19.

Leola Hubbard added 16 points for Caruthersville.

Portageville 80, Malden 39
In the other varsity semifinal, the Lady Bulldogs closed the first half on a 7-0 run to take a 38-26 lead to the break, then blew the game open with a 28-9 third-quarter outburst.

Brittney Walker led Portageville (18-3) with 25 points, while Kellye Penn added 15 and Anna Long chipped in 11.

Trilla McCoy and Lakesha Johnson led Malden with eight points each.

Junior varsity
In the first jayvee semifinal, the Senath-Hornersville Lady Lions remained undefeated with a win over Campbell.

Randa Jarred scored 11 points to lead a balanced attack by the Lady Lions (16-0), while Seleena Neal added nine and McKenzie Harris finished with eight.

In the other semifinal, the Kennett Lady Indians used a dominant second-half performance to get by Portageville, outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 26-15 after the break.

Sharika Walls led the Lady Tribe with 10 points, while Jerica Wheeler tossed in nine and Alexandra Brown added eight.