By Marcus Elliott

Sports Editor

The Lady Cardinals are two games closer to sweeping their district and bringing in a district title after earning wins over Caddo Mills and Rivercrest this week. Melissa will enjoy consecutive home games when they take on Paris Chisum on Friday night in the Bird Cage before they travel to Leonard next Tuesday.

Melissa 61, Caddo Mills 33

Looking to defend their home court and perfect district record, the Lady Cardinals played host to a scrappy Caddo Mills team on Tuesday night, taking control early to get a 61-33 win.

Melissa went ahead 7-4 when Shelby Hill knocked down a trey from the top of the key. Megan Conlin picked the pocket of the Caddo Mills point guard and then drove it in to put Melissa up five.

In the last minute of the first period Melissa scored six unanswered points thanks to two perfectly placed assists by Hill and shots by Katie Webb and Whitney Taylor. Going into the second quarter with a 10-point advantage, the Lady Cardinals continued to attack with stingy, stifling defense that lead to transition points. A steal by Webb led to an elbow jumper by Hill to put Melissa up 27-13 and force a Caddo Mills time out with just under three minutes to go in the half and Melissa took that 14-point lead into the locker room at the end of the second quarter.

The game was slow moving early in the third quarter, with only two points scored in the first four minutes but Melissa used a 9-2 run to close out the quarter and take a 42-19 lead with a quarter to go.

Eleven points in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter put the game out of reach and Melissa went on to win by 28.

C 9 8 2 14 33

M 19 12 11 19 61

Melissa 70, Rivercrest 29

Rivercrest was no match for the Mighty Lady Cardinals on Friday night as Whitney Taylor led the Melissa team to a 70-29 throttling over their district foe. Taylor lead the scoring charge with 20 points and was one of three Lady Cardinal players in double figures.

Melissa came out red-hot from the opening tip – never trailing in the contest and building an early advantage with precision shooting and stifling defense. When the first quarter came to a close, the Lady Cardinals had a commanding 23-5 lead.

That was the most dominant quarter of the game for Melissa and they managed to win the battle each quarter. Shelby Hill finished the contest with 13 points and Katie Webb added 10.

By halftime, the Lady Cardinals were able to extend their lead to 22 and at the end of the third quarter that advantage had expanded to over 30. Eight Melissa players contributed to the offensive production and Madison Simmons had eight of those points while Megan Conlin added seven.

In the fourth quarter, Rivercrest finally scored in the double figures but the damage had already been done and Melissa went on to earn the 41-point win. Other Melissa scorers included: Haley Hill 6, Emily Bates 3 and Claighton Bush 3.

M 23 13 15 19 70

R 5 9 4 11 29