After last night’s 46-38 victory over Jefferson City, Hickman senior Miriam Tesfamikael emerged from the locker room carrying a bag of ice in her right hand.

She said the ice wasn’t for her hand.

After getting scorched by Tesfamikael’s sizzling shooting, the Jays might have a hard time believing that.

Playing at Hickman gym as part of the Fischer’s Pro-Line Tournament that is being held in St. Louis, the 5-foot-11 senior made all six of her shots from the floor and was 4 of 4 from the foul line to finish with a career-high 16 points.

"We just tried to move the ball a lot," Tesfamikael said. "It was just that the holes were opening and they’re constantly telling me, ‘Look for the holes. Look for the holes, and your time will come.’ It happened to come today."

Tesfamikael helped the second-seeded Kewpies (16-5) advance into the championship game of the eight-team tournament that was postponed on Thursday. Rather than have both Mid-Missouri teams bus into snowy St. Louis, tournament officials allowed the rescheduled semifinal to be played in Columbia.

Despite a sparse crowd, Hickman made the most of its home-court advantage. The Kewpies never trailed, building a lead as large as five points in the first quarter before using a 9-0 run early in the second that made the score 24-14.

Yvonne Anderson was the offensive catalyst in the first half, scoring 10 points in the first quarter and seven more in the second to help Hickman open a 32-17 halftime lead.

"Yvonne displayed a lot of leadership tonight," Hickman Coach Tonya Mirts said. "She was communicating a lot, and I was really impressed with the way Miriam stepped up offensively. That was a big plus."

The Kewpies made only 2 of 10 shots in the third quarter, allowing Jefferson City (13-9) to close to within 36-26 at the start of the fourth. Sydney Crafton scored seven of her team-high 18 points in the third quarter. A Stephany Johnson jumper to open the fourth closed the margin to eight.

"In the second half, I think we thought the game was won, and it wasn’t," Mirts said.

Tesfamikael made sure that it was by scoring back-to-back baskets to push the margin to 12. When the Jays closed the score to 40-31, Chasity Prince dropped in a 3-pointer and Tesfamikael followed with a three-point play with 5:13 remaining to give the Kewpies their biggest lead.

"Miriam got on a roll, Yvonne found her, and she had the confidence to keep shooting," Mirts said. "She’s been working on it." Assistant coach Clark "Swisher’s been working on her to get her follow through higher. Boy, if we can have three offensive weapons like that, we’re going to be successful."

The Kewpies, ranked fifth in Class 5, have managed to find success with Anderson and Prince providing most of the offense. Tesfamikael said she’s more than willing to add another double-digit scorer to the mix.

"Hopefully," she said, smiling. "That should be the goal."

Hickman travels to Maryville University to meet top-seeded and ninth-ranked St. Joseph’s Academy (17-4) at 3:30 p.m. today for the tournament title.

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