WARDSVILLE, Mo. - Kayla Jones is usually one of the first players off the bench for the Blair Oaks Lady Falcons.
She got the opportunity to start Monday night and certainly didn't waste it, making two of her four 3-pointers in the first quarter in a 58-26 victory against Hallsville.
"She's been pretty consistent for us," Blair Oaks coach Darren Heckman said. "She's shooting the ball really well. We talked to her about just staying confident and keep shooting it, because when she gets in a rhythm she can make shots."
The first points of the game were a corner 3-pointer by Jones and she added a long-range shot from the wing for a 14-4 lead about five minutes into the game.
Brooke Boessen then scored off the fifth of six first-quarter turnovers by the Lady Indians and later finished the first-quarter scoring for a 20-6 lead.
"We talked about just coming out with some energy," Heckman said. " I thought that was a really nice quarter. Offensively we did some good things, but it all started on the defensive end."
The Lady Falcons forced five more turnovers in the second quarter, but went cold offensively to go into the halftime up 27-10. All seven of Blair Oaks' second-quarter points came in the final 3:30.
Boessen scored the first four, including a three-point play. The other three came from a corner 3 by Jones.
Jones scored a game-high 14 points and Boessen finished with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.
"Her energy looked really good and I really felt she brought something when she was in there," Heckman said of Boessen.
Halie Rackers found the bottom of the net twice from long range in the third quarter, the second coming at the 3:20 mark to halt a 7-0 Hallsville run. Rackers finished with eight points.
That 3-pointer began a 10-2 run that closed out the third quarter for a 42-21 lead.
Blair Oaks made three more 3s in the fourth quarter to finish 8-of-20 from deep. Two of them came from Peyton Kusgen, who also had four rebounds from her guard spot.
"Peyton does a lot of little stuff that maybe doesn't get noticed all the time," Heckman said. "She got a lot of rebounds in the first half and in the second half she made some shots."
Blair Oaks (16-6, 2-2 Tri-County Conference), winners of four straight, plays Thursday at Eldon.
Blair Oaks won the JV game 53-28. Mallorie Fick led the Lady Falcons with 13 points and Alyssa Hargus added nine points.
The Blair Oaks freshman team concluded its season with a 20-14 win to finish with a record of 11-3. Grace Boessen scored eight points and Kadence Kliegel finished with six points.