The Dexter Bearcats third-grade traveling basketball team continued their winning ways last weekend in the Farmington Winter Classic basketball tournament. The 'Cats are (first row, from left): Carter Dorton, Peyton Driskell, Ryder Boles, Dylan Sitze, Peyton Boles, (back row, from left) Austin Daniels, Riley Slusher, Andrew Ellinghouse, Cade Allen, and Ryan Collier. The 'Cats are coached by Dave Ellinghouse and Lloyd Hyten.

ROLLA – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners used a strong first half to surge past the William Jewell Cardinals 78-48 on Saturday afternoon on Billy Key Court. S&T made 8 of its first 10 shots en route to the blow out win.

The Lady Miners (18-7, 12-5 GLVC) scored the first seven points of the contest on Saturday and wouldn't look back. Courtney Kemp (Fredricktown, Mo./Fredricktown) had four of those first seven points.

The Cardinals (13-10, 8-9 GLVC) got within 7-3 on an old fashioned 3-point play from Holly Switzer at the 16:46 mark. They wouldn't get any closer the rest of the contest.

S&T answered by scoring 14 of the next 17 points over the next six minutes to take a commanding 21-6 lead into the under 10 minute timeout. Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) had four in that game deciding run while Julie Meyer (Marthasville, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) and Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) had three apiece.

WJC closed to within 25-10 on a layup by Aerial Smith with 8:49 to play.

The Lady Miners built its largest lead of the contest going on a 15-0 run over the next seven minutes to build a 40-10 advantage on a layup by Karli Sample (St. Joseph, Mo./Benton) at the 1:44 mark. Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef) and Sample combined to 10 of the 15 points in the run.

The Cardinals scored the final four points of the half to close within 40-14 at the break.

S&T shot 67 percent (14-for-21) from the floor, was 3-of-6 from downtown and 9-for-12 at the foul line in the opening frame.

Sample led the way with eight points while Meyer, Kemp and McLeod added six points each. The Lady Miners outrebounded WJC by a 15-11 margin and turned 11 Cardinal turnovers into 13 points.

William Jewell was just 5-of-23 (22 percent) in the opening half, 0-for-8 from behind the arc and 4-of-5 from the foul line. Tesia Danner had four points while Chelsea Meeks added three more.

The Cardinals came out of the halftime break strong opening the second half on a 15-4 run to get within 46-29 on a layup by Switzer at the 14:11 mark.

Sample and Meeks traded three's to keep the game at a 17-point margin on ensuing possessions.

S&T stretched its lead back to 24 on a putback by Quintonia Evans (Evansville, Ind.) with 9:57 to play. The lead dipped below 20 only once the rest of the way.

Pretty much everybody scored for the Lady Miners as Yael Pelleg (Rishon Lezion, Israel) hit a three with less than a minute to play to make it a 30-point final margin.

Meyer and Sample led the way with 12 and 11 points respectively. Kemp added nine while Kyesha Hall (Dodson, La.) dropped in eight and Parks chipped in with seven.

S&T finished the game shooting 59 percent (26-for-44) from the floor and was 7-of-13 from downtown. The one downside was the shooting at the foul line as it was just 19-for-31 (61.3 percent).

Both of Dexter, Missouri's Heil twins saw action in the contest; Katelyn and Cathryn each chipped in three points in the victory.

The Cardinals were 19-of-50 (38 percent) from the field but made just 10.5 percent (2-for-19) from downtown. They were 8-of-9 at the foul line. Meeks finished with a game-high 16 points, 13 in the second half. Smith and Katlyn Wood dropped in six each.

The Lady Miners close out the regular season at Drury next Thursday night at 5:45 p.m. S&T has also clinched a first round home game in the GLVC Tournament which will probably be next Sunday afternoon at a time to be announced.

Click here for the full box score.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

The difference between the Dexter Bearcats' performances on Tuesday and Friday night is nothing short of astounding; if you said they looked like a different team on the court, you wouldn't be too far off the mark.

Despite a disappointing 76-69 overtime loss to the Cape Central Tigers on senior night, the Bearcats have nothing to hang their heads about heading into the Class 4, District 1 Tournament.

"We played a lot better tonight than we did Tuesday night," head coach Rob Nichols said. "You can take some positives from that, but at the same time, we had our chances and didn't get it done. The kids are disappointed, but hopefully we can bounce back and play well again Monday night."

Cape Central's TJ Tisdell was dominant in the paint all night, scoring 33 points and 16 rebounds. The 'Cats were able to get him out of the game with foul trouble late in the third and early in the fourth, which Nichols noted as part of the plan heading into the contest.

"We didn't know if we could stop Tisdell or not; the gameplan was to try and take it at him, see if we could get him in foul trouble a little bit," Nichols continued. "Most people think you would want to speed it up against these guys, but we really wanted to make sure we got high percentage shots on offense because we've been struggling with turnovers lately. We wanted to make sure controlled the pace of the game on the offensive end, and for the most part I thought we played well offensively. We just had a heck of a time stopping Tisdell no matter what we did."

Jake Lee (19 points, 13 boards) was given the tough task of guarding Tisdell for the majority of the contest; despite the numbers, Lee played a solid game inside, and made Tisdell work for every point.

"We tried three or four different defenses tonight. If [Tisdell] didn't score, it seemed like he always got the rebound, and he's a good free throw shooter," Nichols said. "He's a good player, maybe even the conference player of the year. We played a lot of man on him, and Jake Lee did a good job; he made him work for what he got." The Bearcats jumped out to an early lead thanks to a pair of treys from Tyler Miller in the first quarter. The Tigers rattled off four straight to open the second and take a 17-16 lead at the 6:37 mark. Both teams traded buckets for the remainder of the first half, with the Tigers clinging to a 33-32 lead at halftime.

The Bearcats came out hard in the second half, and tied the game on a Cody Neldon transition layup at the 5:26 mark. The Tigers put together a 13-5 run to close out the third quarter with a 57-48 lead.

Dexter netted 10 unanswered points early in the fourth quarter, while the Tigers struggled against the Bearcats' press. A trey from Miller tied the game with 55 seconds left. Tisdell missed a short-range jumper at the buzzer to force overtime.

Tisdell made up for his blunder at the end of regulation with four straight points to open the overtime period. The Bearcats pulled within three at the 1:30 mark thanks to a steal from Miller and layup by Jordan Fitts, but the Tigers hit eight of 10 free throws when the Bearcats were forced to foul for possession late. Fitts knocked down a three with under 30 seconds left, but the Tigers held on for a 76-69 win.

"We're not deep enough to press a whole game," Nichols said of the fourth quarter ball pressure. "We're deep enough that if we can press in spots, we can be effective with it. We just thought we could press at that point and they wouldn't have finishers at the back of it."

Nichols was quick to compliment the efforts of his three seniors, Tyler Miller, Jordan Fitts, and Jake Lee, in their (barring a playoff appearance) last game at the Bearcat Event Center.

"We told the seniors, 'It's your last night to play at home; go out and lead the younger guys, and you younger guys, don't let the seniors down. Leave everything on the court.' I thought we did; we were coachable tonight, and the kids played hard," Nichols said. "Tyler, Jake, and Jordan all played well, and that's a great thing to see in their last game on their home floor."

The Bearcats will be back in action on Monday night, when they travel to Sikeston to take on the Fredericktown Black Cats in the Class 4, District 1 Tournament. DHS earned the No. 4 seed in the bracket, one better than Fredericktown at No. 5.

"Fredericktown is a much improved team over what they've been in the past three or four years," Nichols said. "They've got a big 6'8" kid that's a good player, they've got a guard that really penetrates well. We'll have to play well to beat them. They're a good team."

Tipoff for the tournament matchup is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

VINCENNES – Holding an 11-point lead with 7:16 left in the first half, it looked like Three Rivers might just pull another upset Wednesday night.

Then attrition took its toll – and the Vincennes Lady Trailblazers took advantage, taking the lead for good right before halftime and dominating down the stretch to take a 92-62 win over the Lady Raiders here at the Vincennes University Physical Education Complex.

“They were running several players in,” Three Rivers coach Jeff Walk said. “Our kids were playing as hard as we could play, trying to overcome a lot of adversity. We just kept battling and kept battling, but they just wore us down at the end.”

Three Rivers (9-16) trailed 53-48 after Whitney Mills’ basket with 12:29 remaining in the game, but back-to-back baskets by Jalen Green and a bucket by Channie Williams gave the Lady Blazers a 59-48 lead less than two minutes later as the home team began to take control.

“I’m at a loss of why,” said Walk. “We got a couple of kids in foul trouble and that kind of took the wind out of our sails. If we had weathered that storm right there, who knows what would have happened?”

Mills drained a 3-pointer with just under nine minutes to go to cut the deficit to 63-53, but the Lady Raiders did not score again from the field for over four minutes as Vincennes scored 11 straight points to take a 78-55 lead on Taylor Hawkins’ basket near the five-and-a-half minute mark to effectively put the game on ice.

Earlier though, it was a different story. Three Rivers used a 10-0 run midway through the first half to take a 24-14 lead after back-to-back baskets by Brooke Godsey with 8:42 left in the opening session.

“It’s kind of like a prize fight,” “We came out with a good 1-2 punch. (Vincennes) came out and responded and they countered – and they just wore us down.”

Abbie Warren’s free throw with 7:16 to go before the intermission made it 28-17, but the Lady Blazers (23-4) got hot, tying the game at 31 on Green’s basket near the 2:25 mark of the first half, then taking a 33-31 lead on Green’s free throws with 1:50 remaining before the break.

Tara Porter’s free throws 13 seconds later tied the game again at 33, but a pair of free throws by Ingrida Strikas and another basket by Green made it 37-33 at the half.

Shanice Gholson’s free throws with 13:32 left in the game increased the Vincennes’ lead to 53-42, but the Lady Raiders made one final push, scoring six straight points to make it 53-48 on Mills’ trey before the wheels started to come off.

Mills led Three Rivers with 23 points, while Godsey added 16.

Strikas paced the Lady Trailblazers with 21 points while Gholson tossed in 13, Green and Zhanna Chukhriy each chipped in 11 and Skylar Shunn finished with 10.

The Lady Raiders are back in action Saturday when they head to Mineral Area for a Region XVI contest. Tipoff time is set for 5 p.m. at Bob Sechrest Fieldhouse.

KANSAS CITY – There was no need for any last second drama this time around in Kansas City as the Missouri S&T Lady Miners closed the first half strong en route to a blow out 69-44 win at Rockhurst on Thursday evening. In its trip to Kansas City last season the Lady Miners needed a steal on the game's final possession to hang on for the 52-51 victory.

The first 13 minutes of the opening half were a see-saw affair with each side answering each other basket for basket. S&T (17-7, 11-5 GLVC) led by as many as three early while Rockhurst (5-19, 2-14 GLVC) held a two-point edge.

With the score tied at 18-18 the Lady Miners dominated the final six minutes of the frame by scoring 14 of the final 16 points to take a 32-20 lead into the locker room at the break. Julie Meyer (Marthasville, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) and Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) scored four points apiece in the run.

S&T shot 57 percent (13-for-23) from the field in the opening half and were 6-of-8 at the foul line. Parks led the way with nine while Kyesha Hall (Dodson, La.) added six and Meyer dropped in five. Courtney Kemp (Fredricktown, Mo./Fredricktown) and Karli Sample (St. Joseph, Mo./Benton) added four each.

The Hawks shot just 31 percent (8-for-26) from the floor and was led by MaKayla Grahn with five points.

Grahn scored the first basket of the second stanza for Rockhurst to cut the deficit to 10.

From that point on it was all Lady Miners scoring seven of the next eight points to take a 16 point advantage 2:30 in.

The Hawks closed to within 12 but for the most part S&T held a 16-point lead for a majority of the second half.

S&T eventually built its lead to as many as 27 on a put back from Quintonia Evans (Evansville, Ind.) with 4:24 to play.

The Lady Miners finished the contest shooting 46 percent (25-for-53) from the field and went 18-of-26 (69 percent) from the foul line.

Parks led S&T with a game-high 20 points while Hall added 10. Meyer finished with nine while Sample, Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef) and Katelyn Heil (Dexter, Mo./Dexter) added seven points apiece.

Rockhurst shot just 27 percent (18-for-67) from the floor and were led by Grahn's nine points. Chrissy Sarcone, Allison Streich and Susan Hohenadel added six apiece.

S&T closes out the regular season at home on Saturday playing host to William Jewell beginning at 3 p.m. The game was originally scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. but was bumped to accommodate WJC.

Prior to Saturday's game the Lady Miners will be honoring their seniors in their final home game.

Click here for the full box score.