CJ girls cruise to 52-24 win over Joplin

Jan. 30—CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — The Carl Junction girls basketball team rode the strength of a double-double by senior Kylie Scott to a 52-44 win over the Joplin Eagles on Tuesday night.

Scott finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds to lead CJ to its 10th win of the season.

The Bulldogs (10-8) broke out to an early 6-0 lead off buckets by Anna Burch, DeShaye Buerge and Dezi Williams before Alissa Owens put Joplin on the board midway through the first quarter.

Scott got her first score of the game at 3:20 to give the Bulldogs an 8-2 advantage before another Owens bucket pulled the Eagles within 4 at 8-4 with three minutes left. Two Aiyanna Kroll free throws pulled Joplin within 2 at 8-6, but CJ's Scott, Williams and Burch each netted a score to close out the opening quarter with the Bulldogs up 14-6.

Carl Junction (5-14) held Joplin to just 4 points in the second period and Buerge hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the first 30 seconds of the second frame to put CJ up 20-6.

Bulldog head coach Ryan Odaffer talked about Buerge's progess as a shooter.

"She stays every night after practice and puts in an extra 30 minutes of shooting," Odaffer said. "We tell the girls all the time that extra work will pay off in the end, and it has started to pay off for her."

A Williams transition score and a Jadyn Howard bucket off a Scott assist padded the Bulldog lead at 24-6 and capped off a 10-0 run for CJ.

Joplin's Kroll stopped the CJ run with a basket at 4:10 to make it 24-8 and a Bailey Owens drive to the basket made it 24-10.

Carl Junction closed out the first half with a Williams' free throw, a Maddy Huffman putback of a missed free throw and a Scott score in the paint to take a 29-10 lead into halftime.

Joplin had its most competitive quarter in the third period, giving up just 8 points while scoring 7, including an Ashley Phillips 3-pointer at 4:48 that made it a 31-13 game.

The Bulldogs went into the final frame with a 37-17 lead and outscored the Eagles 15-7 in the fourth quarter to garner the 52-24 win.

"We were consistent from quarter to quarter and played well throughout," Odaffer said. "I was proud of them for coming out, getting going early and not slowing down. It was a very good four quarters for us."

In addition to Scott's game-high 16 points, the Bulldogs got 12 from Williams and eight from Buerge.

"I'm proud of the girls and their fight," Joplin head coach Brad Cox said. "Alissa Owens had another great game. She's someone we really hang our hat on. We just need to get better at rebounding."

Alissa Owens led Joplin with 13 points and Kroll had 4.

Up next for Carl Junction, a home game against Willard on Friday, while Joplin hosts Nixa on Thursday.