Lady Jays roll past Hazelwood Central in Classic

COLUMBIA - The Jefferson City Lady Jays held the Hazelwood Central Hawks to just 10 second-half points Friday night in posting a 56-38 victory in the Norm Stewart Classic at Mizzou Arena.

Jefferson City, which led 32-28 at the half, scored the first seven points of the third quarter to push its advantage to double digits. The Lady Jays led 41-32 after three quarters.

Another 7-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter extended Jefferson City's lead to 48-32. The Lady Jays led by as many as 20 points in the final minutes, that coming at 56-36 on a pair of Sarah Linthaum free throws, before settling on the 18-point final margin.

It was a back-and-forth game for much of the first half. Hazelwood Central scored the first basket of the contest to take its only lead of the night. Jefferson City led 14-12 after the first quarter.

Jefferson City led by as many as five points in the second quarter, that coming at 28-23, before taking the four-point lead into intermission.

Kara Daly finished with 17 points for Jefferson City to earn Player of the Game honor awarded in the Classic.

Sydney Dukes had 14 points for Hazelwood Central (2-3), 12 coming in the first half.

Jefferson City (3-0, ranked No. 1 in Class 5) will head to Springfield for the Stephanie Phillips Classic that begins Thursday.