Taking revenge: Lady Tribe avenges first loss of season against Twin Rivers

The Kennett Lady Indians got a little payback in their game Thursday night against the Twin Rivers Lady Royals with a 53-32 win.

The Lady Royals handed the Lady Tribe its first loss this season back in December at the Lady Royals Christmas Classic. That loss was on Kennett's mind coming into Thursday's game.

"I think that kind of fueled some fire with our girls tonight," said Kennett coach Casey Bunting. "They were on our home court, in front of the band royalty and they were wanting to show that that (first loss) of the season wasn't typical of our type of ball."

Kennett came out totally dominant in the first quarter by going on a 12-0 run. Kennett's Caroline Shetley started things off by hitting a field goal 30 seconds into the game and then Jerica Wheeler found her in the paint for another basket.

"We were ready," Shetley said. "They beat us in the (Christmas) tournament, so we were ready for them. We were so pumped before the game."

After a two-point shot from Alexandra Brown, Wheeler drove the lane for a layup and Veronica Amos added on two more. Wheeler hit a basket with four minutes left in the period to cap the run.

Kennett (12-3) played even tougher on defense by not allowing a field goal in the first quarter. The Lady Tribe allowed only five first-quarter points, all of which came by way of the free-throw line.

"We work on defense every day," said Bunting. "That's one thing that we stress -- even though we're in a zone -- we still work on our man-to-man stuff and it paid off for us tonight."

The first quarter ended with Amos finding Mackenzie Carr for two points and then Amos nailing a 3-pointer from the right side to end the quarter with Kennett on top 20-5.

Kennett kept up their intensity going into the second quarter by outscoring Twin Rivers 13-5 on the good play of Amos and Wheeler.

"Veronica and Jerica are definitely playmakers for us," Bunting said. "They can always score and we're pretty comfortable when they have the ball in their hands. I was real pleased with Veronica on the top of the press tonight. Singlehandedly, she put a lot of pressure on the ball up there. Those two consistently all night helped get the game rolling at the pace that we wanted to be at."

The Lady Indians gave up their first field goal of the night when Stephanie Jennings of Twin Rivers hit a basket with 4:26 left in the half.

On a tough night for Twin Rivers, Jennings stood out with a very good game. Jennings had 15 points on the night and was Kennett's only real threat in the game.

"We didn't really target one person in general," Bunting said. "We just kind of worked on our territory, what we're supposed to do as a team. Twin Rivers is packed full of good girls. They're all good shooters (so) we knew we had to close out and get out on the perimeter tonight with them. We know they can light it up and they did the first time we played them."

Kennett led 33-10 at the half.

The second half of the game was much more competitive with Wheeler knocking down a 3 from the top of the key and Twin Rivers answering back with three points. On Kennett's next possesion Amos continued her hot shooting by hitting a trey from the corner.

Kennett was able to control the ball and the clock in the fourth quarter to stave off Twin Rivers more up-tempo second half play.

Wheeler was particulary proud of this victory since Twin Rivers dealt Kennett it's first loss last month.

"That heated our souls," said Wheeler. "They handed us our first loss and that first loss is always the toughest. It's something that you don't forget. Whenever you have the opportunity to pay it back, you want to do everything you can to give it to them as hard as you can."

Wheeler and Amos both got into double figures to lead Kennett's scoring, with Wheeler putting in 16 and Amos adding 14.

Notes: The Lady Tribe also won the junior varsity contest 54-25. ... Kennett hosts Sikeston on Monday night.

Senath-H'ville 65, Caruthersville 18
At Caruthersville, the Lady Lions raced out to a 28-0 lead after one period as they won their sixth straight game.

"The girls are really playing unselfish right now," Senath-Hornersville coach Jamie Johnson said. "We're working on some things that we'll use later in the year. We're having a lot of fun right now and it's a good feeling at the gym."

McKenzie Harris led the Lady Lions (9-5, 3-1 Bootheel Conference) with 16 points, while Seleena Neal added 15 and Jami Jackson finished with nine as all 11 players scored for Senath-Hornersville.