Once Abby Peterson got going, she wasn’t going to stop.
Peterson hit five consecutive shots at the end of the first and start of the second quarter to help build a 26-point performance, leading the Sullivan Lady Eagles to a 53-38 win against the Capital City Lady Cavaliers on Thursday.
Peterson shot 10-of-21 overall, added two 3-pointers and brought down 12 rebounds for a double-double.
“(Peterson) was a hard mismatch for us,” Capital City coach Ashley Agee said. “We’re a lot smaller than her at the guard position and their were times she would just pull up and shoot over the top of us.
“We knew coming in that she was their best player,” Agee added. “We were just giving her too much space. She stands 5 or 6 inches taller than us, so you can’t give her space, you have to lock up even tighter even if you thought you weren’t giving her space.”
Early on, it was Sullivan’s other double-double performance from Dakayla McClain leading the way. McClain got the scoring started with a layup off a Kylee McReynolds assist, but Jada Anderson was able to score on a putback to tie the game for Capital City.
Olivia Witt followed with one of her three 3s for Sullivan, then McClain turned an offensive board, one of her game-high 16 rebounds, into two free throws, two of her 12 points, then scored on a putback after grabbing two offensive rebounds on the Lady Eagles’ next possession.
“We were kind of out of position and didn’t get it done tonight,” Agee said.
The 7-0 run put Sullivan in front for good.
Aslyn Marshall hit one of two free throws to break the streak, but Sullivan outscored Capital City 8-6 in the final three minutes of the opening quarter to take a 17-9 lead into the first break.
Peterson scored on a coast-to-coast layup and used one of Hayli Venable’s team-high three assists for a baseline jumper for four of Sullivan’s final six points.
They were the first two of Peterson’s five consecutive makes.
She opened the second quarter with a short jumper, then used consecutive assists from Venable for 3s from the top of the key and the left corner, extending Sullivan to a 25-13 advantage at the 6:27 mark of the second quarter.
Her streak of makes ended, but Peterson added four more points in the quarter to lead Sullivan to a 31-19 lead at halftime. Capital City got four points each from Addison Jones, who ended with seven, and Marshall to keep within 15 in the first half.
Peterson opened the third quarter with a left-corner 3, but Jones responded with a 3 off a Natalie Allison assist for Capital City.
The 3s kept falling as Witt added another with 4:15 left, then Anderson cut Sullivan’s lead to 37-24 with a post layup off one of Rylea Sanning’s co-game-high four assists.
Sullivan scored the final five points of the quarter to take a 42-27 lead into the final eight minutes.
“We do get steals, we do good things, but then we turn the ball over,” Agee said. “I think we left probably 15-20 points just out there on things that we have to finish. … To win ball games, you have to get those in.”
Anderson and Allison split the scoring duties for Capital City in the fourth, with Allison scoring six on two 3s and Anderson scoring five on two layups and a free throw, to total the Lady Cavaliers’ 11-point quarter. Peterson added five to lead the way for Sullivan in the final eight minutes.
Sullivan outrebounded Capital City 44-21 with the help of 16 from McClain, 12 from Peterson and seven from McReynolds.
“We played hard, defensively we were struggling,” Agee said. “Sullivan stepped up and hit some outside shots that they don’t always hit.”
Allison and Anderson scored nine points each to lead Capital City, while Anderson brought down a team-high five rebounds. Jones scored seven points, dished out a co-game-high four assists and tipped away a game-high seven steals, helping build the Lady Cavaliers’ 14.
Capital City (3-14) has an extended break before it returns to the court in the Southern Boone Classic on Jan. 30.
“We’ll take a couple of days off to reset then get four or five practices in,” Agee said. “We’ll just get back to fundamentals. Certain times, the thing can get away from you if you don’t have time to correct it. We’ll just work on the stuff we haven’t had time to correct.”