Young Tiger post Ella Vogel leads Cape to road win at Kelly

Cape Central sophomore post Ella Vogel shoots over Kelly defender Kiya Lambert Monday in Benton.

Ben Matthews ~ Bmatthews@semissourian.com

BENTON — Cape Central earned a dominating 54-30 win at Thomas W. Kelly Monday.

The Tigers (9-4, 2-0 Class 4, District 1) were paced by 6-foot sophomore Ella Vogel, who came off the bench to score 16 points, with all but four coming in the second half.

“(Ella) is a great kid and athlete,” Central coach Brandon Winters said, “and she works hard. Ella just turned 16 about two weeks ago and you kind of forget she’s a sophomore.”

Vogel made an impression on her opponent just as much as she did in pleasing Winters.

“(Cape Central)’s a big school with a big girl (Vogel) and we don’t have anybody that physical or that tall,” said Kelly coach Darrin Pruitt, in his third year at the helm of the Hawks.

Vogel is better known as a standout volleyball player – first-team all-district, first-team all-conference and the SEMO Conference hitter of the year.

Winters, in his first year coaching Central, said his Tigers successfully took the post away from the home team.

“I watched (Kelly) play Advance and saw how good number 13 is,” said Winters, referring to Kelly’s Alaney Moore, a junior, who also had 16 points in the losing effort.

Last weekend Moore went over 1,000 points in her high school career.

“We made the decision,” Winters added, “to stop them from driving to the basket and forcing (Kelly) to make shots.”

Kelly spent nearly the entire game in jump shot mode with generally unsuccessful results beyond the perimeter.

“We took 38 shots,” said Pruitt, “and we didn’t connect on many of them.”

Winters said he has been working this season to re-educate his team on how to play the game.

“(I’m) proud of the progress they’re making into buying into a new defensive concept,” continued Winters, referring to the Tigers’ exclusive use of man-to-man defense.

Winters, a Festus native, came to the Tigers after seven years coaching Logan-Rogersville in Springfield.

Kelly (7-7, 1-1, Class 3 Dist. 2) also had a tough night at the free-throw line, connecting on just 1 of 10 from the charity stripe.

Central hosts Jackson on Thursday, while Kelly travels to face Oran.

Scoring

CAPE CENTRAL (54) — Ella Vogel 16, Rakiara Bogan 8, Olivia Koch 7, Martesia Carter 6, Taylor Horton 6, Alivia Capshaw 4, Yeniah Jackson 4, India Sisson 3. FG 25, FT 3-6, 3-pointers (Sisson)

KELLY (30) — Alaney Moore 16, Allison Owens 8, Elly Pattengill 4, Kiya Lambert 2. FG 12, FT 1-10, 3-pointers (Owens 2, Moore)