BY DEREK SHORE

A full-strength Webb City girls team featured a three-headed offensive attack to help claim its first victory of the season. Jaydee Duda (18 points), Sierra Kimbrough (15) and Raven Vaughn (11) led the way.

"All three of our seniors did a good job scoring the basketball," Webb City coach Lance Robbins said. "That's something we expect out of that group. I feel like we have five, six girls on any given night that can give us double figures. We expect a lot out of those three. It's a learning experience for us. We had some younger kids that got in and were able to get some experience, which hopefully it will pay off for us down the road. It was definitely nice to have everybody back. We still have some kinks to work out with everybody, but I think they are going in the right direction."

After getting off to somewhat of a slow start in the first quarter, the Cardinals amped up the defensive pressure and held Lamar to only two points in the second frame.That allowed Webb City to build a 27-11 advantage by halftime after a 20-2 output in the second quarter. Kimbrough scored 13 of her 15 in the second quarter capped by back-toback layups in transition.

And the Lady Cardinals continue to add onto that lead in the second half. With 1:30 left in the third quarter, Vaughn came up with a layup to give Webb City a 39-18 lead. Duda hit a corner 3 for a 50-26 lead with three minutes left to go.

"Defensively, I thought we were doing a pretty good job," Robbins said. "I thought the big key was Sierra on both ends of the floor setting the tone for us. She is our leader. She does a great job defensively. I thought we were able to take advantage of the pick-and-roll situation there for a few minutes. She kind of got us going offensively."

Webb City plays Miller at home at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Joplin Globe 12/09/2020 (Used by permission)