Growing pains: C'ville drops Lady Tribe in league opener

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Hope Sparks (left) drives to the basket against a Caruthersville defender during the first half of Tuesday's Bootheel Conference girls' basketball game at Kennett High School. [Click to enlarge]

Growing pains can seem to come almost naturally to a young team.

The Kennett Lady Indians experienced a few of them Tuesday, as the Caruthersville Lady Tigers used first-half runs of 12-0 and 19-3 to take a 62-46 victory over the Lady Tribe in the Bootheel Conference opener for both squads.

"We're a pretty young team -- we're a very young team actually," Kennett coach Casey Bunting said afterwards. "We're still working on doing something good and then continuing with something good and not turning it into something bad.

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Jessie Greenway (left) is fouled by Caruthersville's Marquette Mullins during Tuesday's game at Kennett. [Click to enlarge]

"We had a little trouble tonight -- we would maybe get a trap on the press, we would accomplish something really good (but) then we'd get a little flustered and then we would turn it over. I (attribute) a lot of that to just our inexperience on the court."

The Lady Indians started four underclassmen Tuesday -- two freshmen and two sophomores -- and have just one junior and two seniors on their roster.

Kennett's struggles started early, as the Lady Tigers (3-1, 1-0 Bootheel) went on a 12-0 run after they fell behind 2-0 early.

The Lady Indians fought back, cutting the lead to 16-14 on Danielle Ragsdale's basket with 1:08 left in the opening period and cutting it to two again (18-16) on Megan Walker's field goal 25 seconds later.

The Lady Tribe (0-3, 0-1) still trailed by just three points when Allyson Luce hit a bucket with 7:34 left in the first half when the wheels came off as Caruthersville closed the half on a 19-3 run.

"Caruthersville has some good shooters," said Bunting. "They were working hard and at times, it didn't seem like we were getting our hands in the shooters' face. But we were battling nonstop in the first half, getting lots of rebounds and working on our end."

The Lady Tigers pushed the lead to 22 points in the third quarter before Kennett rallied in the fourth to get the lead down to 12 (58-46) on Luce's basket with 3:22 remaining.

"I think the fourth quarter speaks highly of our girls," Bunting said. "It shows that they have desire and heat. We just have to learn how to win. Having a young team like this and stepping into a program where these girls aren't getting experience earlier on a jayvee team, they have to learn how to win on the varsity level."

Ragsdale paced the Lady Tribe with 11 points, while Jerica Wheeler added nine and Luce chipped in eight. Luce also had 11 rebounds, while Alexandra Brown led the Lady Indians with 15 boards to go along with two points.

Tierra Perry paced Caruthersville with a game-high 18 points, while Leola Hubbard tossed in 16 and Marquette Mullins finished with 14.

Kennett is back at home again Thursday when it hosts Portageville in another Bootheel Conference battle.

Notes: In junior varsity action, the Lady Indians won 28-23 as Wheeler scored eight points. Curise Covington led the Lady Tigers with 10 points. ... Kennett also hosts Notre Dame next Monday before heading to Senath-Hornersville next Thursday.