Lady Cats scratch out big win over Notre Dame

By MATT KING\Daily Journal Sports Writer

FREDERICKTOWN - With a huge conference battle against Farmington just days away and the setback of their first loss to St. James fresh on their minds, the Fredericktown Lady Cats had plenty of reasons to lose focus at home on Monday night. However, the opposite occurred.

The Lady Cats used a smothering defense to build a double-digit lead in the first quarter, and made some key shots with the game on the line to defeat the Cape Notre Dame Lady Bulldogs, 53-49.

"I was pleased with the effort tonight, said Fredericktown coach Lonny Sheldon. I thought that most of the time we played with a little bit of smartness on the court. We made a big run at them early and then they came back on us. Then we withstood their run and went on from there. This will be a big help to our confidence."

Fredericktown (11-1) scored early and often in the opening period, hitting 8-14 field goal attempts. Much of the success was sparked by seven steals at the defensive end, leading to transition baskets.

The Lady Cats led 8-2 when Michelle Matthews finished a quick passing play with a short bank shot. The margin increased to 10 when Courtney Kemp and Matthews made perfect outlet passes on back-to-back possessions to Kylie Boswell and Betsy Royer, leading to layups. Fredericktown led 19-8 after the first quarter.

Notre Dame (3-6) eventually settled into its offense and quickly whittled its deficit away by knocking down some mid-range jump shots. Allison Toole capped a 6-0 run for the Lady Bulldogs by connecting from the baseline. Amber Karnes then scored on a fast break to make the score 21-18.

The game turned very physical as halftime approached, and the chippy play seemed to benefit Notre Dame. Miranda Schlosser emerged from a scramble near the Fredericktown basket and scored to make it a one-point game, but an inbound pass to Boswell gave the Lady Cats a 25-22 lead at halftime.

The third quarter saw no decline in intensity despite the fact that only two total fouls were called. Amanda Essner started the action with an inside basket for the visitors, but the Lady Cats opened up a five-point spread on two straight scores by Boswell.

Fredericktown hit a cold shooting stretch during the latter stages of the third, and compounded it with some untimely turnovers. Merideth Medlin converted a midcourt steal into two points just before Toole drilled a jumper to give the Lady Bulldogs their first lead 34-33.

After Kemp and Essner traded baskets, Matthews banked in a three-point shot at the close of the stanza, giving Fredericktown a 38-36 advantage entering the fourth.

Kemp nailed a triple from straight away to start the final period, then scored on a feed from Amy Hendrix following a quick steal as the lead suddenly ballooned to seven. Royer scored after catching a lob pass to make it 45-36, but Notre Dame would make one more comeback attempt.

Back-to-back jumpers by Toole and a layup by Karnes brought the Lady Bulldogs to within one with 2:15 to play. Fredericktown countered by sandwiching baskets by Kemp and Boswell around a Notre Dame free throw to build a 51-47 edge with 1:12 left.

Essner capped a nice passing play with a layup to slice the margin to two, but Notre Dame wasted valuable time before finally fouling the Lady Cats with 16 seconds on the clock.

Kemp missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Notre Dame was promptly called for a double dribble. Kemp was fouled again with four seconds left, and the freshman made both ensuing attempts at the line to seal the victory.

Fredericktown committed 18 turnovers in the contest, but forced 20. The outcome of the game carried extra importance for both teams since they could meet again in late February with much more at stake.

"This is a great big win for our district seeding," added Sheldon, "because Notre Dame is in our district."

Kemp led all players with 15 points. Matthews added 13 points and made six steals. Essner was the top Notre Dame scorer with 13.

Fredericktown will travel to Farmington on Thursday for an MAAA Large-School division showdown.

Notre Dame - 8 14 14 13 - 49

Fredericktown - 19 6 13 15 - 53

SCORING:

Notre Dame - A Essner 13, A Toole 12, A Karnes 10, K Burger 6, M Medlin 4, M Schlosser 4.

3-pointers - None.

Fredericktown - C Kemp 15, M Matthews 13, K Boswell 11, B Royer 6, A Hendrix 6, M Bess 2.

3-pointers - C Kemp 1, M Matthews 1.