When the Delta girls basketball team is on its game, it plays an inside-outside game that includes penetration, passing to the post and kickouts for open 3-pointers.

It took a little while to get it going Tuesday night against rival Scott County Central, but the Bobcats eventually did.

They knocked down six 3-pointers in a 52-34 trouncing of the Bravettes in a Class 1 sectional game at Poplar Bluff High School.

"We usually move the ball pretty well and don't really rush our shots," said Delta senior Brittni Deprow, who came off the bench to knock down three 3-pointers. "We try to get a good shot off every time."

The Bobcats' shots weren't falling early, but they hit two 3-pointers at the end of the first half and came out with the first five points of the second half to build a double-digit lead.

Delta's Jodi Menz, the team's tallest player at 5 feet, 10 inches, never did get in the rhythm. She finished with seven points and 5-9 starter Sara Blattel added two.

Deprow scored nine, sophomore point guard Taylor Smith scored 16 and Sarah Keys hit for 10.

"We're pretty solid in the post and we have good perimeter shooters," Smith said. "Even when our post players are not scoring, they do a good job of rebounding."

Menz led Delta with 10 rebounds.

The Bobcats (23-2) will find out their quarterfinal foe tonight.

You can read my game story here.

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Brianna Johnson led Scott County Central with 15 points. She made back-to-back steals and layins midway through the fourth quarter to cut the Bravettes' deficit to 50-34.

"A lot of people probably weren't impressed with her until the last couple of games," Scott County Central coach Semona Penrod said, citing the team's 10-13 record. "She's not naturally a point guard and she played that for us and she led us in rebounds."

The Bravettes were mixing and matching players throughout the year with injuries and such. They played the district final against Oran without JoVonne Banks, who had surgery on her wisdom teeth that week.

"We had so much of that this year it was like coaching a whole new team the last week and a half," Penrod said.

Delta coach Randy White said he had scouted the Bravettes once this year -- the teams' game was canceed due to weather -- but said it really didn't help since they had so many new players.

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Penrod said she did not know what the future held for her as coach of the girls team at Scott County Central.

A year ago, she did not anticipate returning when Scott County Central opened all of its coaching positions.

"I'm not going to say I'm definitely not coaching," she said.

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With the boys getting ready to play in the sectional, Penrod remembered her playing days as a member of the first girls team at Scott County Central, which was coached by Ronnie Cookson.

"I was so busy learning dribbling, rebounding and shooting," she said. "I wish I had been one of those players on the bench so I could have learned more about coaching from him."

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White said Delta's formula for limiting the Bravettes to 34 points was simple: "We tried to contain them to check the shots and tried to keep them off the boards. We wanted to keep them in front of us so everyone would have a chance to block out. They're good at rebounding."

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Smith, a sophomore, admitted to some nerves as the games get more important.

"There are so many more faces in the stands," she said. "But once I started playing, it went away."

Smith, who had three steals and four rebounds, said she was prepared for big games and her high school career by older sister Shea Smith, a former Delta standout now playing at Three Rivers Community College.

"She's been a great role model for me," Smith said. "Ever since we were little, we played in the basement and got into fights."