The Tipton Lady Cardinals are the No. 1 team in the Class 2 rankings.
But don’t think the small school team can’t run with the bigger schools.
“They could win Class 5, they’re that good,” Jefferson City coach Kay Foster said Monday night after the Class 5 No. 9 Lady Jays dropped a 53-45 decision to the undefeated Lady Cardinals at Fleming Fieldhouse.
“They’re very well-coached, they’ve been playing together since the fourth or fifth grade. They know how each other plays. Their timing is so good and their offense is so efficient.”
Tipton coach Jason Culpepper believes the Lady Cardinals -- who already have wins this season against the likes of Hickman, Cardinal Ritter, Troy-Buchanan and Ozark -- didn’t play their best game Monday night.
“It was a mixed bag,” Culpepper said. “We did a good job with our assignments on the defensive end, but we didn’t rebound very well.”
Gallery: Jefferson City Girls Basketball vs. Tipton
Jefferson City jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first two-plus minutes before 3-pointers by Myra Claas and Charlee Bailey started an 8-0 run for the Tipton.
After a layup by Hannah Linthacum tied it, Tipton scored four of the final five points in the quarter to take the lead for good at 12-9.
The Lady Cardinals tallied three uncontested layups -- two by Bailey -- to start the scoring in the second quarter to take an 18-9 lead.
“(Bailey) got away from us early and that hurt us,” Foster said. “There’s no excuse for that because we knew what she could do and we just didn’t play her the way we were supposed to do.”
The Lady Cardinals hurt the Lady Jays from the outside later in the second quarter, as Courtney Edwards hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to give Tipton its biggest lead of the half at 27-13.
“Courtney is a 40-percent 3-point shooter for her career,” Culpepper said. “She just doesn’t get to shine very often, but when they left her unguarded, it was Courtney time.”
Tipton hit its first six shots and finished 9-of-12 from the field in the quarter.
Jefferson City got as close as 10 later in the quarter before a layup by Claas gave Tipton a 32-20 lead at intermission as she finished the half with 14 points.
“The first words out of my mouth at halftime were, ‘It could have been a lot worse,’” Foster said. “We had to regroup.”
Linthacum had 15 points and nine rebounds in the opening two quarters for the Lady Jays as the Tipton defense looked to take away the Jefferson City perimeter game and not focus on her inside.
“We were struggling to run offense,” Foster said. “We’ve never been played that way before, so that was an adjustment we had to make. We had to get more motion out on our perimeter.”
Tipton did not commit its first turnover until 5:25 remained in the third quarter.
Jefferson City got as close as eight points in the third quarter and trailed 39-30 heading into the final eight minutes.
Tipton was able to keep it a three-possession game throughout the fourth quarter. Jefferson City got as close as seven points once, that coming after a 3-pointer by Linthacum made it 52-45 in the final minute.
“The game plan was good, but it wasn’t executed well in the first half,” Foster said. “We did a much better job defensively in the second half.”
Claas finished with 26 points for Tipton (15-0), while Edwards added 10.
It was the start of a busy week for the Lady Cardinals, who will host Northwest: Hughesville tonight and Lincoln on Thursday before facing Class 2 No. 2 Bishop LeBlond in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame Shootout at Southwest Baptist in Bolivar.
“That will be a very good game,” Culpepper said. “We’re looking forward to the opportunity to play some more great competition.”
Linthacum had 26 points and 18 rebounds for Jefferson City.
“Coming from being an all-state volleyball player, it takes time to do that sport shift,” Foster said. “I think we’re starting to see that now. Hannah had a great night.”
Jefferson City finished with a 35-27 edge on the boards. Culpepper said it’s the first time Tipton has been outrebounded in a game this season.
“We have the energy and effort to rebound, but we didn’t show that really until midway through the third quarter,” he said. “We were rebounding like we should down the stretch.”
Jefferson City (10-5) will play Thursday at Class 6 No. 9 Battle in a Central Missouri Activities Conference contest.
In a two-quarter JV game played after the varsity contest, Jefferson City defeated Tipton 30-19.