By DONN ADAMSON
Daily Journal Sports Editor

Published: Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Updated: Tuesday, February 2, 2010 10:44 AM CST

PARK HILLS — The Central Lady Rebels defense forced turnovers by the Potosi Lady Trojans on their first three possessions, and it forced the visitors to try their hand at outside shooting where they were only 1-5 in the first quarter. The Lady Rebels defense was not as effectual in the next two quarters as Potosi’s offense shifted gears to lead to a 45-27 conference win. 

Ashley Thompson scored the lone three-pointer for Potosi in the first quarter to jump-start her game-high 13 points and give the Lady Trojans a 6-5 lead after one. Thompson also pulled down 11 rebounds in the game.

Riley Owens gave Potosi’s ballhandlers fits at half court as she swiped the ball four times in the first 10 minutes of play as part of Central’s trapping defense.

The Lady Rebels struggled from the floor, scoring only two baskets in each of the first three quarters and finishing with 9-42 shooting. Potosi, held to only two baskets in the first quarter exploded to eight baskets in the second quarter. Within the first fur minutes of the quarter, they turned a one-point lead to start the quarter into a 13-point lead.

Potosi center Madison Smith scored five inside points in the quarter for the Lady Trojans as they crashed the boards for nine of their game’s 35 rebounds and a 24-12 half-time score.

The Lady Trojans made good use of their half-time warm-up shooting as Ashley Duncan and Emilee Dicus swished three-pointers to jump Potosi’s lead to 18 points.. Potosi’s press did not faze the Lady Rebels as they constantly broke through to set up their offense, but it usually resulted in a either an errant pass or a missed shot.

Potosi also had its trouble scoring as Central’s defense made the stop more often than not. The Lady Trojans were only able to score twice more in the quarter with Duncan doing all the damage.

Stacey Williams scored Central’s only three pointer in the fourth quarter to aid her team-high scoring of nine points. The Lady Rebels could not draw any closer as both teams scored 11 points in the quarter.

Central (2-16) will host West County on Thursday, and Potosi (10-9) is off until the Conference Tournament which starts on Saturday.

Potosi  6  18  10  11 - 45

Central  5  7  4  11 - 27

Scoring:

Potosi - Ashley Thompson 13, Ashley Duncan 10, Madison Smith 7, Kelsey Fitzwater 6, Emilee Dicus 5, Emilee Gibson 2, Geena Davis 2.  3 pt. FG - Duncan 2, Thompson, Dicus.

Central - Stacey Williams 9, Briley Merritt 8, Taylor Fields 3, Erin St. Gemme 2, Alison Fischbeck 2, Brylee Boyd 2, Riley Owens 1.  3 pt. FG- S. Williams.