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The Dupo Lady Tigers faced the Crossroads Prep Lady Chargers of St Louis on Monday night in non-conference varsity basketball action. The Lady Tigers have been struggling to find their identity this season working through injuries, low numbers and inconsistent play. Monday night’s contest was emblematic of those issues as the Lady Tigers lost big to a Lady Chargers team that was really not much better than they were, 57-41.
The Lady Chargers came out firing as their point guard Megan McKenna hit a three-pointer to start the scoring. McKenna would eventually lead all scorers in the game with 19 points, 16 of them in the first half. The Lady Chargers came out with a full court press, something the Lady Tigers have struggled with at times, and Dupo turned the ball over a number of times. Crossroads failed to take advantage early even though Dupo was fouling early and sending them to the line. But about midway through the first quarter the Lady Chargers turned up the intensity. Crossroads went on a 13-6 run to finish the quarter with the lead 17-8.
Play in the second quarter was sloppy early on behalf of both teams but the Lady Chargers got on a roll in the second quarter. With the Lady Tigers focusing on guarding the Lady Chargers’ guard McKenna and their center Margaret Davenport in foul trouble, Crossroads turned their attention to the inside game and it began to work. The Lady Chargers began to get better shots and were also getting to the free throw line in the process. Crossroads was outscoring, outrebounding and generally outhustling Dupo on offense and defense. As a result the Lady Chargers outscored the Lady Tigers 19-6 in the quarter taking a 36-14 lead at halftime.
The third quarter was similar to the first two as Crossroads controlled the tempo and maintained their lead. Abandoning the full court press with their big lead the Lady Chargers moved to a zone defense to shut down the inside and force the Lady Tigers to take outside shots. The Lady Tigers did just that but didn’t shoot well and they still couldn’t stop the Lady Chargers defensively in order to cut into their big lead. Crossroads outscored Dupo 13-10 in the third quarter to maintain their lead 49-24.
Crossroads worked in their bench players in the fourth quarter but with the same results. With Dupo’s lack of depth this year the fourth quarter has been difficult for them as fatigue becomes a factor and then the mistakes pile up. The Lady Tigers played well in the fourth quarter albeit against the Lady Chargers’ bench. The Lady Tigers outscored the Lady Chargers in the fourth quarter 17-8 but it was too little, too late as Crossroads won 57-41.
The Lady Tigers were led by Kaitlyn Donald - 9 points, Chelsea Scott - 9 points, Kelcie Ragsdale - 7 points and Kim Chappelear - 6 points. The Lady Chargers had three players in double figures. The aforementioned Megan McKenna – 19 points, Jessica Steen - 15 points and Nell Briggs - 11 points. The loss drops the Lady Tigers record to 4-13.
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