Lady Colts win regional tournament; advance to state

The Cairo Junior High School Lady Colts won the First Region tournament to advance to the SIJHSAA State Tournament held at Rend Lake College in Ina.
The Lady Colts defeated the Lady Bobkits from Meridian Middle School 44-35 at C.K. Cole Gymnasium on the campus of Cairo Junior/Senior High School.
The Colts, under the direction of Coach Regina Brown and the Lady Junior Bobkits, coached by Robyn Mouser, settled nothing in the first quarter which ended in a tie at 11. Both teams enjoyed a balanced scoring attack in the first quarter as all five starters for each team scored at least one point in the quarter.
The fouls started to accumulate for both teams in the first as well, Cairo getting called for eight and Meridian for five.
Cairo was able to take a 20-17 lead into halftime, but their foul trouble was a mounting concern as they committed fifteen first half fouls leaving three starters with at least three fouls, one with four.
The Lady Colts continued to accumulate fouls in the third quarter but were also able to accumulate points, scoring fourteen while holding the Lady Junior Bobkits to seven giving them a 34-24 lead going into the fourth.
MeridianÕs Skylar Blake, who scored a team high twelve points, netted five of her teamÕs seven points in the third. CairoÕs Otress Bridges, who led all scorers with seventeen points, tallied eight in the third.
Meridian was able to cut the Lady Colt lead to four points, 36-32, with four minutes remaining in the game but were held scoreless from the field for the rest of the game.
Blake led Meridian with 12 points, going 7-11 from the line. Tasha Dickson added ten points, Carol Rayford seven, Brittany Lee four and Marie Johnson scored two.
Bridges scored 17 points for Cairo and Jamia Kyles added ten. The Lady Colts also got seven points from Kierra Jackson, four from Tiann Kee and three each from Chalice Gardner and Kiana Houston.
Cairo Ð Bridges 8 1-4 17, Kyles 4 2-6 10, Jackson 1 (1) 2-4 7, Kee 2 0-0 4, Gardner 1 1-2 3, Houston 1 1-2 3. TOTALS: 17 (1) 9-16 44.
Meridian Ð Blake 1 (1) 7-11 12, J. Johnson 3 4-11 10, Rayford 2 3-5 7, Lee 1 2-4 4, M. Johnson 1 0-1 2. TOTALS: 8 (1) 16-32 35.
Cairo opens State Tournament play at Rend Lake College on Friday, Janaury 18 at 6:00. The Lady Colts will face Aviston, the Region Six Champion.