By DARIN ALLRED

Register Sports Editor

SAINT JO — The Muenster Lady Hornets had started the season with two losses, but they had come against a Class 4A team (Wichita Falls Rider) and a home school team that had defeated teams from Class 4A and Class 5A. But on Thursday at the Saint Jo tournament, the No. 9 ranked Lady Hornets finally got to play a team in their own classification.

Muenster hit seven 3-pointers and 45 first-half points en route to an easy 79-20 win over the Forestburg Lady Longhorns in a first-round game. Muenster (1-2) will take on the winner of the Collinsville-Paradise game in the semifinals today at 1 p.m. Collinsville defeated Bellevue in their first round game, while Paradise knocked off the Krum JV. Collinsville and Paradise are scheduled to play at 9 a.m.

Against Forestburg, Muenster set the tone early as they raced out to a 7-0 lead. Lia Heers hit a 3-pointer and made a layup and Samantha Endres added a bucket for the Lady Hornets.

The Lady Longhorns got on the board on a basket by Shayla Rose, but Muenster then went on a 14-0 run thanks to baskets by Endres, Shaina Felderhoff, Taylor Klement and Lana Heers. Later, a 3-pointer by Felderhoff and an offensive rebound and follow shot by Leaha Smith gave Muenster a 26-4 lead.

Anita Esparza hit a shot for Forestburg with 15 seconds left to cut the deficit to 20, but Felderhoff drained another 3-pointer with 5 seconds left to put the Lady Hornets ahead 29-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Forestburg scored the first points of the second period as Stephanie Harwell hit a 3-pointer, but Muenster scored the next 13 points. Endres answered the Harwell three with a 3-pointer of her own. She also scored the next two baskets for the Lady Hornets and Amanda Dangelmayr added a 3-pointer and Felderhoff scored in the paint to make it 42-9.

Rose got Forestburg back on the scoreboard after a four-minute drought. They also got a 3-pointer from Brittany Miller with 26 seconds left in the half, but they still trailed 45-14 at halftime.

Muenster came out strong to start the third quarter, scoring the first 10 points and holding Forestburg scoreless for almost five minutes as the two teams agreed to use a running clock. The key was offensive rebounding and transition baskets. Felderhoff, Klement and Lia Heers scored after getting offensive rebounds, while Lia Heers and Jenni Luke added layups on fast breaks that pushed the lead to 55-14.

Rice scored two more field goals for the Longhorns, but Muenster closed the quarter with six more points to take a 63-18 lead into the fourth. Those six points were the start of an 18-0 run for the Lady Hornets.

The onslaught continued in the final quarter as Forestburg was held without a point for 6:57. That allowed Muenster to add to their lead with back-to-back 3-pointers from Delana Sicking and Dangelmayr. They also got baskets from Smith and Jackie Klement that pushed their lead to 75-18. Esparaza finally got Forestburg on the board with 1:03 remaining, but Smith scored for Muenster with 25 seconds left for the final margin.

All 11 Muenster players scored. Shaina Felderhoff led the way with 14 points, while Sam Endres added 11, Leaha Smith and Lia Heers both had 9, Amanda Dangelmayr and Jenni Luke had 8, Taylor Klement scored 5, Jackie Klement and Lana Heers each had 4, Delana Sicking pitched in 3 and Allison Pagel added 2.

For Forestburg, Shayla Rose had 8, Anita Esparza added 4, Brittany Miller and Stephanie Harwell each had 3 and Monica Huddleston added 2.

Forestburg will play the winner of the Bellevue-Krum JV game today at 1:30 p.m. The tournament runs through Saturday with the championship game scheduled for 3 p.m.