By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

BROSELEY - The Lady ‘Cats improved their win streak to four games with a 88-11 win over the Malden Green Wave in the opening round of the Lady Royals Christmas Classic.

The squads faced an unusual tip time - the game was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. - for the No. 1 - No. 16 matchup, but LBB head coach Chad Allen noted it as a non-issue for his team. “For being at nine in the morning, it seemed like our girls were ready to go,” Allen said. “They got after it, and we definitely kept a lot of pressure on them. We created a lot of turnovers, and scored a lot of points on those turnovers.”


The Bearcats’ full-court press was incredibly effective in the first half; as a team, the Lady ‘Cats turned 38 turnovers, and Hannah Noe and Brittany Harris came up with seven and five steals, respectively.

The Lady ‘Cats opened the contest with two big runs; they dropped 18 unanswered before Jennifer Miller hit a jumper at the 4:50 mark for Malden’s first points of the game. The ‘Cats went on to another 14 point run to take a 32-2 lead at the end of the first.

Alison Jarrell, who was out with an injury, and Katelynn Frazier were both out of action on Saturday morning, but Allen was able to move up Katie Reiker and Breanna Bowers from the JV squad.


Bowers was able to contribute 2 points and 4 boards, while Reiker chipped in 2 points and 4 assists.

“It’s definitely good to get some of those younger kids in there. With Katelynn and Alison out right now, we had to bring up two JV players in Katie Reiker and Breanna Bowers,” Allen said. “I thought it was great for them to play at the varsity level and get some experience. You could tell the were a little shaky and nervous, but once they got settled down, they played well for us.”

The Lady ‘Cats will be back in action on Monday (Dec. 19) night, when they face off with the No. 8 Doniphan Donettes. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

ESSEX - After dropping five straight games to open the 2011-2012 season, the Bearcats picked up their first win in blowout fashion on Friday night when they faced the Richland Rebels.

The Bearcats knocked down seven threes on their way to a 78-31 win against their first SCAA opponent.

“That’s something we talked about; we haven’t shot that many threes in our first few games, but as small as we are, that’s something that we’re going to have to do and get better at as the year goes on,” head coach Rob Nichols said after the game. “We’ve got some guys that can shoot it, but we haven’t taken many of those shots to this point.”

The Bearcats had a challenge on their hands in the paint with Richland’s near seven-foot center Richard Forshee; Tyler Miller and Jake Lee both did an outstanding job guarding the big man, and got him in foul trouble in the second and third quarters.

Miller and Chase Young paced the ‘Cats with 17 points each; D.J. Dowdy had nine off the bench, while Jordan Fitts knocked down seven points.
The Bearcats, aided by two threes from Miller and one from Young, opened up with 18 unanswered points before the Rebels scored in the final 90 seconds of the first quarter.

“That’s the main thing we wanted to do tonight, just get out to a good start and make sure we played well,” Nichols said.

The Rebels turned the ball over 34 times throughout the game; the ‘Cats were able to force many early due to their full-court pressure, which Nichols pointed out as more of a ‘test run’ for his team.

“We haven’t really pressed much this year, so we wanted to look at it tonight and see if we were going to be able to do it,” he said. :In the first few games we played man-to-man predominately; we just wanted to take a look at it and see if it worked.”

The ‘Cats were able to get some of their bench players some valuable action in the contest, with Bailey Hampton, Jonathan Page and Tyler Wilson playing extensively throughout the contest. Nick Noble, Stevie Payne, and Matt Ridlen were all able to see some of their first Varsity action of the season late in the contest.

Nichols pointed out how important picking up this first win was for team morale, but also noted the stiff SEMO Conference competition the ‘Cats faced early.

“It had started to weigh on them a little bit, but at the same time,they’ve gotta look at who they played,” he commented. “[The second game against] Jackson was a winnable game for us, but we just didn’t get it done. I thought we played well in the first game, against Charleston, but Sikeston just handed it to us. It’s good for confidence, that’s for sure.”

The JV squads were able to squeeze in two quarters of play after the Varsity contest. The young ‘Cats were led in scoring by Noble, with six points. Myles Urhan added four, while Devin Hampton, Austin Aldridge, and Drake Mitchell each chipped in three points in the Bearcats‘ 21-13 win.

The Bearcats will be in action again on Tuesday (Dec. 20) night, when they face off against the Scott City Rams in their last contest before the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.

Nichols noted the Rams’ improvement from last season, and feels his team needs to bring their ‘A-game’ to pick up another W before Christmas Break.

“Scott City is an improved team from last year; they’ve got three kids that can really score from what I’ve seen on tape,” he said. “We’ll have to go over there and really play well to win that game.”

Tip is set for JV action at 6:00 p.m., with Varsity taking the courts at the conclusion of the JV contest.

ShowMe Scoreboard, 12.17.2011

Game played Friday, Dec. 16, 2011

 

High School Boys

Dexter 78, Richland 31

Bloomfield 55, Chaffee 49

Bernie 72, Bell City 38

Scott City 73, Advance 63

Woodland 64, Kelly 49

Cape Central 71, Farmington 51

Notre Dame 62, Sikeston 54

Gideon 98, Clarkton 87

Malden 57, South Pem 51

Oran 58, Delta 48

Portageville 70, Kennett 57

Oak Ridge 64, East Prairie 45

Risco 92, Gosnell 57

 

NCAA Women

Lindenwood 51, William Woods 49

Ole Miss 72, Lipscomb 57

Miami (Fla) 103, LA-Monroe 39

DePaul 73, Arizona State 55

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 To report local scores to the ShowMe Times, please email news@showmetimes.com or leave a message at 573-624-7469 (624-SHOW)

            

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

Alison Jarrell, who suffered a side injury during Thursday night’s contest with the Sikeston Bulldogs, has been listed as ‘day to day’ by LBB head coach Chad Allen.

The sophomore guard, who suffered the injury during a collision with Sikeston’s Keyonna Blisset, has been diagnosed with bruised ribs, which is much better than expected.

“Thankfully it's just a really bad bruise,” Allen said.  “They say it's the same rehab even if it was broke.  She will be out for sure the next couple of days.  It really depends on her...day to day.”

Jarrell is expected to miss tomorrow’s Lady Royals Christmas Classic opener against the Malden Green Wave; hopefully she’ll be able to be back in action before the conclusion of the tournament.




By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

Heading in to Thursday night’s showdown with the Sikeston Bulldogs, one of the Lady Bearcats biggest concerns was beating Sikeston’s full-court press. After 32 minutes on the hardwood at the Bearcat Event Center, it proved to be a non-issue as the Lady ‘Cats rolled to a 69-34 victory.

The Lady ‘Cats have been working on their full-court press for the last several games, and it’s really starting to pay dividends for the young team; the 35-point win has been the narrowest margin of victory during LBB’s now three-game win streak.

“[Sikeston is] known for their pressure full-court. I thought our girls handed that extremely well tonight,” head coach Chad Allen said. “They looked aggressive and really attacked the middle. I thought we did a great job of attacking them.”

“That’s what we really wanted to do coming into this game; we wanted to put as much pressure on them as possible and really try to push the ball up the floor,” he continued. “I thought our girls did a tremendous job of doing that”

The Lady Bearcat offense continues to impress, with Alison Jarrell, Hannah Noe, and Brittany Harris all in double figures. Harris (22 points, 14 boards) and Noe (16 points, 10 assists) both had double-doubles for the second straight game. On the defensive end, Taylor Owens had a great game off the bench with 5 steals.

“I thought all the girls did a really good job; not just Brittany,” Allen said. “All of them really contributed throughout the whole game.”

The Lady ‘Cats took control of the game early, with a quick 8-0 run to jump out to an 11-3 lead with just over 2:00 left in the first. Queshia Howard drained a deep three for the Bulldogs to cut LBB’s lead to 11-8 after the first.

Erica Cobb (7 points, 7 boards) drained a three to open the second quarter; Jarrell knocked down two threes in the frame to cap off a 25 point effort in the second.

Sikeston came out of the locker room with much more intensity in the second half; the Bulldogs forced 10 turnovers in the third quarter. Harris and Paige Patterson were both able to block a shot during the frame to help the Lady ‘Cats to a commanding 50-21 lead after the third.

The Bearcats were able to put up 19 points in the fourth to take a 69-34 win, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Keyonna Blisset and Jarrell had a nasty collision while fighting for a rebound with just over two minutes left in the contest; Jarrell left the game with what appeared to be a rib injury.


Jarrell’s injury potentially leaves the Lady ‘Cats already short bench at 6 players, as Katelynn Frazier was out of the contest after a death in her family.

“The bench is definitely getting a little short now,” Allen said. “Our thoughts and prayers are definitely with Katelynn Frazier and her family, and also Alison Jarrell getting hurt there at the end. We don’t know what the diagnosis will be yet, but it doesn’t look good. Hopefully it will turn out better than it looks.”

With the victory, the Lady ‘Cats move to 6-2 on the season, and have picked up their second-straight victory against a District opponent.

“Its definitely a big battle between us; we’re district rivals now,” Allen said of the Bulldogs. “They’ve gotten to that point now in talks of being one of the best in the district too. They’re a good team, and well coached; I’m proud that our girls came and got after it tonight.”

In the JV contest, Katie Reiker led the ‘Cats with 24 points. The JV squad held the Bulldogs to single-digit scores in every quarter, and picked up a big 46-21 victory.


The Lady ‘Cats will be in action again on Saturday morning when they open the Lady Royals Christmas Classic against the Malden Green Wave; the Lady ‘Cats grabbed the No. 1 seed in the 16 team tournament earlier this week.

“They’re definitely down; I know their coach has been really working hard with them,” Allen said of the Wave. “We’re probably going to have to bring someone up off the JV to give us a little more depth; hopefully we’ll come out there and play our game and we’ll get after it.”

Tipoff is set for 9:00 a.m. from Twin Rivers High School.