By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

The Bearcats and Mules met in the nightcap of Tuesday's four-game basketball extravaganza; the 'Cats really struggled to get anything going in the game, and dropped their second straight game with a 52-28 final score.

The 'Cats were held to a free throw by Jake Lee and offensive rebound and stickback from Tyler Miller in the first quarter, while Poplar Bluff put together a pair of 6-0 runs to take a 12-3 lead heading into the second.

The 'Cats were again held to single-digits in the second quarter; Brad Potts picked up his first bucket of the evening late in the frame to send the 'Cats into the locker room down 21-9 at halftime.

Miller knocked down back-to-back threes midway through the third quarter in what appeared to be an offensive resurgence by the 'Cats, but Tyheim Towns answered with two threes of his own. The Mules held a commanding 38-19 lead heading into the final eight minutes of play.

Poplar Bluff held the Bearcats to just nine points in the fourth quarter to seal a 52-28 SEMO Conference win. DHS head coach Rob Nichols noted turnovers and an abysmal first half were key in the loss.

"They beat us in every aspect of the game. They killed us on the glass, and we turned the ball over too much. In the first half, we didn't get many shots," a visibly upset Nichols said after the game. "We didn't make many shots, but we also didn't take many. They just beat us in every aspect of the game; there's not one thing I thought we did better than them tonight."

The Bearcats were without the services of junior Chase Young in the contest; the Bearcat point guard will be sitting out the rest of the season due to patellar tendonitis in both knees.

"I'm not worried about our depth," Nichols said of Young's absence. "The kids we have are capable of playing and getting the job done, we just have to come and do it. Tonight we didn't do that."

The Bearcats will be back in action on Friday night, when they host Cape Central for Senior Night.

"They're a good team, a lot of size," Nichols said of the Tigers. "[If] we play like we did tonight, we aren't going to show too well. We'll have to play much, much better. We have three seniors, and it's their last time to play here, so hopefully we'll come out and have a good effort."

Tipoff is set for Friday (Feb. 17) at 6:00 p.m. from the Bearcat Event Center.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

For the second time in the 2011-2012 campaign, the Dexter Lady Bearcats and Poplar Bluff Lady Mules faced off in a SEMO Conference showdown. LBB picked up its second win of the season against the Mules with a 70-59 decision at the Bearcat Event Center on Tuesday night.

The Mules gave the 'Cats a scare a few times in the second half, and pulled within four points in the fourth quarter, but coach Chad Allen's squad fought back to their 10 point lead each time.

"This was definitely a game of runs; we would make a big run, and then they'd make a run right back," Allen said. "Poplar Bluff is definitely a good basketball team, and they've been playing really well here of late. Coach Chronister always does a tremendous job with those girls, and I'm glad our girls kept fighting hard until the end."

The Lady 'Cats utilized a strong full-court press and quick transition offense throughout the contest to seal the win. Allen noted his team's recent struggles with 'easy' shots, but was proud of his team's grit late in the game.

"We wanted to make it a transition game; I feel like [Poplar Bluff is] more of a half-court offensive team this year. We wanted to try to play our game and get up and down the floor, and they did a good job of that tonight," he said. "We missed a lot of 'bunnies' under the basket, but we'll have games like that occasionally. If we hit those shots, it makes us better offensively, but it also helps us to be able to get back in our defense. I don't know what we shot from the field; I'm just glad they kept battling throughout the game."

The Lady Bearcats have played much improved defense of late, and did a good job of shutting down Danielle Farmer - who burned the 'Cats from the perimeter in their earlier meeting - and Marissa Webb, Bluff's leading scorer and inside threat.

"I thought we did a really good job of containing Webb. She's always going to score her points, but we did a good job of trying to clog up that middle making her drive," Allen said. "We also did a good job on Farmer; last time we played them, she hit four or five threes against us. We played pretty good defensively tonight."

The Lady 'Cats rode a 16-8 lead into the second quarter, when Mollie Whitehead knocked down back-to-back threes to give them a 30-15 lead. The Mules rattled off five unanswered points to close out the first half and trail 30-20 at halftime.

Erika Cobb pulled down several key defensive rebounds in the third to stall Poplar Bluff runs; Paige Patterson's three point play at the 2:00 mark gave the 'Cats a 45-31 lead. Farmer completed a three point play and hit a three for the Mules in the last minute of the frame to cut LBB's lead to 49-39 heading into the fourth quarter.

A jumper from Webb at the 4:30 mark pulled the Mules within six points in the fourth quarter, but steals from Whitehead and Katelynn Frazier let to points for the Lady 'Cats. Dexter built back to a 10 point lead thanks to great assists by Hannah Noe (11 total assists in the game) to Whitehead and Harris. Whitehead was called for a charge and fouled out at the 2:50 mark; the Lady 'Cats continued to battle and rattled off four unanswered points in the last 45 seconds of the game to edge their margin of victory to 11 points.

Allen noted the importance of the SEMO Conference win, as well as the difficulty of the conference this season.

"Our conference is really tough; we have some of the toughest teams in Southeast Missouri," he said. "I'm proud of the girls for battling back after losing two games in the conference and winning this game tonight. Bluff was first in conference coming into this game; now they are tied with Jackson for first, and we are tied with Notre Dame for second."

The Lady 'Cats will be back in action on Thursday (Feb. 17) night, when they close out the regular season at Twin Rivers. The contest is set to get underway at 6:00 p.m.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

For the last several weeks, the weather hasn't been typical of a Missouri Winter - there has been little to no snowfall or ice, and the temperatures have usually been above 45 degrees.

'Old Man Winter' has finally decided to rear his ugly head today, and snow is already beginning to fall.

According to DHS Athletic Director Chuck Powers, tonight's Lady Bearcat Basketball game against the Poplar Bluff Lady Mules has been postponed due to inclement weather conditions across the area. 

JUPITER, Fla.- After Friday's series opener was washed out due to heavy rain fall, the Palm Beach Atlantic University and Flagler College baseball teams got together for a breezy but beautiful Saturday afternoon of action at the Roger Dean Complex. After a masterful complete game effort by senior right-hander Logan Thomas led the Sailfish to a 6-1 win in the opener, the Saints turned around and claimed a series split by holding off a late PBA rally in earning a 4-3 win in game two.

The double-header split leaves Palm Beach Atlantic with a 4-2 record while Flagler sits at 3-3 in the early going of the 2012 season.

Game One

Thomas (1-0) was simply dazzling on Saturday, allowing only a solo homerun in the ninth inning as he tallied his first complete game of the season while narrowly missing out on a shutout effort.

He would finish with five strikeouts while allowing only five hits as the Melbourne, Florida native gave his team and bullpen a shot in the arm with a nine inning pitching effort.

The Sailfish would put together the game's first rally in a scoreless game in the bottom of the third inning when a leadoff infield single by Ethan Perla was backed up by a walk to Matt Perkowski. A walk to Luis Mejia would later follow and then two-run single by Travis Murray.

Mejia would then attempt a steal of third base later in the frame as a wild throw by the Flagler catcher allowed him to trot home for a 3-0 Sailfish lead.

The Fish added a single run in the fourth on a RBI groundout from Perkwoski while two more insurance runs came in to score in the sixth, first on an Ethan Perla fielder's choice and another on a Cody Higgins sacrifice fly.

Thomas armor would be slightly dented in the ninth as FC catcher Kyle Foti launched a solo homerun to break up the shutout bid.

PBA finished with 11 hits in the game including a 3-for-3 performance by first-baseman Johnny Cole and a 2-for-4 game by Murray and Perla.

Flagler's Jonathan Armold (1-1) took the loss by going four innings while allowing five hits and four runs.

Freshman reliever Danny Brown was solid in relief for the Saints as he tossed four innings while allowing two earned runs.

Game Two

Sending T.J. Harbuck to the mound for game two, the Sailfish and associate head coach Kent Bottenfield were hoping for a repeat performance of last week's efforts that saw the Ormond Beach, Florida native go a strong 6.1 innings of work in a 4-0 Sailfish win.

Although Harbuck wouldn't have quite the same stuff as last week's efforts against Warner University, he did pitch admirably as he exited Saturday's game by allowing three runs (one earned) and seven hits over five innings of work.

Flagler pushed across single runs in the second, third, and fifth innings. Jay Laurienzo delivered a run-scoring double in the second inning to push across the first run for Flagler followed by another run coming in to score in the Saints third inning on a PBA error.

The Saints increased their lead to 3-0 when another PBA error in the fifth inning allowed Foti to come around to score.

Following a scoreless inning of work by PBA reliever Nic Kovacs, the offense would look to get on track for Palm Beach Atlantic.

After starter Micah Kellogg had fooled the PBA hitters to the tune of just two hits through five innings, the Sailfish bats came alive in the bottom of the sixth as they received a big one-out, two-run double from Luis Mejia to cut the lead to 3-2 while Murray added in a groundout to score Mejia one batter later for the 3-3 tie.

The Fish opted to insert closer Alejandro De Moya in the tie game only to see the Saints push across the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh that began with a leadoff walk. Nate Fudala drew the free pass and came in to score a few batters later when Foti singled through the left-side.

The Fish would put two runners on in the bottom the seventh however FC closer Max Rusch would close the door by retiring Perkowksi on a liner to right to end the game.

Rusch improves to 1-0 on the season while De Moya drops to 1-1.

Flagler's Brett Moreland finished 3-for-4 in game two to lead the Saints nine-hit effort while PBA registered six total hits including one each by six different players. Mejia had two runs driven in.

Kellogg was solid for the Saints before being relieved in the sixth as he went 5.1 innings while allowing only five hits and three runs. He walked none and struck out five batters.

The Sailfish return to action on Tuesday, February 14th when they will battle Northwood University at 2:30 pm in West Palm Beach. The game will take place at Northwood however Palm Beach Atlantic will be the home team.

FULTON - Despite an 18-point outing from Sharron Andrews (Oakland/Hayward, Calif.) the William Woods University women's basketball team saw a six-point halftime lead evaporate as the Owls fell 66-76 to Columbia College on Saturday.

 The Owls shot just 9-of-35 in the second half, falling into a second-place tie in the AMC standings.

Dexter, Mo. native Ashlee Taylor, fresh off a career-high scoring effort, was good for nine points and six rebounds in the contest.

WWU was much the better team in the first half, hitting at a .500 clip en route to a 39-33 halftime lead. The Owls led by as many as 12 during the period, but Columbia was able to hang around with solid free throw shooting.

The second half was a different story, however, as WWU wasn't able to find the distance. The Owls went scoreless for two five-minute stretches during the second half and missed on all 13 attempts from beyond the arc as Columbia took the lead and stretched out to a 12-point cushion.

With 2:46 to go, Andrews tried to take control for WWU but the comeback came too late. The senior finished with 18 points and eight rebounds on the night, with Blake French (St. Charles, Mo.) adding 11. The Owls dominated the rebounding battle 41-31, including an 18-6 edge on the offensive glass.

The Owls fall to 17-8 on the season and are back in action on Thursday night. WWU travels to Walnut Ridge, Ark., to battle Williams Baptist College.