By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

HAYTI - The Bernie Mules kicked off the 2012 Class 2, District 1 tournament with a bang on Monday night, as they dismantled the Senath-Hornersville Lions in a 72-24 blowout.

The Mules buried three treys in the first quarter - two from Troy Kirkpatrick and one from Sam Turner - on their way to a 16-4 lead after the opening frame.

The second quarter saw the Lions put together their highest scoring effort of the game, but Bernie's tenacious defense held them to nine points. A nine point effort from David Baker capped off a 20 point second quarter to give Bernie a 36-13 lead at the half.

The Mules were hot-handed again in the third quarter, with treys from Kirkpatrick and B.J. Jennings. Baker put together a 10 point effort for a 58-18 Bernie advantage moving into the fourth.

Despite the running clock the Mules were still able to drop 14 points in the fourth quarter, thanks in part to threes from Kirkpatrick and Matt Vernon, on their way to the lopsided 72-24 final score.

Kody Wright led the Lions with six points in the contest.

Baker paced the Mules with 27 points; Kirkpatrick and Turner rounded out Mules in double figures with 18 and 11 respective points.

“It was a good start to the post-season," head coach Brad Botsch said. "I thought our guys came out and played very hard on the defensive end and had the right mindset from the get-go."

The Mules will advance to the semifinals, where they take on the Holcomb Hornets; it will be the third time this season the Mules and Hornets have met, and Bernie holds a 2-1 advantage on the season series.

"We now need two really solid practices to get ready for a very good and well-coached team in Holcomb, Botsch noted.”

The Mules and Hornets are set to meet in Class 2, District 1 Semifinal action on Thursday night at Hayti High School; tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Photo Above:
Head coach Brad Botsch addresses the Mules during a timeout in the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament. (SMT file photo by Andrew Cato)

POPLAR BLUFF - Veronica Amos made the most of her return to southeast Missouri.

Playing just an hour from her home in Kennett, Amos scored 25 points and pulled down 13 rebounds to lead the Crowder Lady Riders to an 86-70 win over the Three Rivers Lady Raiders in a Region XVI contest Saturday afternoon at the Bess Activity Center.

“She’s a good kid,” Three Rivers coach Jeff Walk said. “I think the Kennett kids were sitting behind her bench cheering her on and she was wanting to do well for her (hometown) kids. She had a good ballgame and you can’t take nothing away from a kid when they have good ballgames.”

Despite the big game from Amos, the Lady Raiders (9-19, XVI) still made a run at pulling the upset and avenging a 37-point loss from weeks ago, trailing just 75-70 after Alex Hower drained a 3-pointer with two minutes left in the game. However, Three Rivers did not score again and the Lady Riders closed the game on an 11-0 run.

“I don’t know if you’d call it run out of gas,” said Walk. “It was such an uphill battle that it was too big of an uphill battle to overcome. We’d make runs at them and make runs at them, then we’d shoot ourselves in the foot. We’ve got to stop having those turnovers at those key times and get to where we can get through that.”

The Lady Raiders played a strong first half, taking a 35-33 lead on Tara Porter’s basket near the 2:11 mark of the first half, but Amos scored 21 seconds later to tie the score at 35, then four straight free throws from Jordan Ritter and Amos put Crowder ahead for good at 39-35 with less than a minute left in the half.

Amos’ field goal with less than three and a half minutes left in the game gave the Lady Riders a 75-65 lead, but Three Rivers answered one last time as Tazonda Gibbs hit a pair of free throws and Hower drained her trey to make it a 75-70 game before the tank ran out.

“We played with them and we battled with them,” Walk said. “We’ve got to just dig in a little bit deeper, get through those hard times and stop making those mental mistakes.”

Whitney Mills led the Lady Raiders with 23 points, while Gibbs added 14 and Porter finished with 13.

Joining Amos in double figures for Crowder were Tarai Sadler with 14 points, while Caprese Marshall tossed in 11 and Jordan Hunter chipped in 10.

Three Rivers concludes the regular season next week with road trips to Jefferson (Wednesday) and Iowa Western (next Saturday) before starting Region XVI Tournament play March 8 at Jefferson City.

“Anything can happen,” said Walk. “You just never know with the group of kids we have.”

ROLLA – The Lewis University Flyers just have the Missouri S&T Lady Miners number as it defeated S&T for the sixth straight time and third straight time in the GLVC Tournament 74-71 on Sunday afternoon in Rolla. It's the second straight that the Flyers have traveled down to Rolla to defeat the Lady Miners in the conference tourney.

The game started out as a back and forth affair over the course of the first eight minutes with each side trading baskets. S&T (18-9) had no answer on the defensive end for Jess Reinhart as she scored nine of Lewis's (8-19) first 11 points.

Once Reinhart went to the bench with two fouls then Madeline Kish and Labrenthia Murdock stepped up scoring the next 16 Flyer points as they took a 27-18 lead with 6:51 to play in the opening half.

The lead eventually grew to 10 on a three from Nikki Nellen at the 5:01 mark.

The Lady Miners began to trim away at the lead getting it to 34-28 on a fast break layup by Julie Meyer (Marthasville, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) with 2:14 left in the half. Lewis extended the lead back to nine on the ensuing possession as Alexus Grayer hit a three from the left wing.

S&T cut it to 38-31 on a layup by Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef) with less than a minute to play but Grayer answered with another three pushing the lead back to 10.  Katelyn Heil (Dexter, Mo./Dexter) made it nine point game heading into the break making 1-of-2 at the foul line.

Both sides made 14 field goals in the opening 20 minutes. The difference was the Flyers needed just 28 attempts and hit seven three's while the Lady Miners took 36 shots and made just two three's.

Meyer led S&T with eight points. Kyesha Hall (Dodson, La.) added seven while Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) and Courtney Kemp (Fredricktown, Mo./Fredricktown) dropped home six apiece. Kish and Reinhart combined for 23 of Lewis's 41 points.

The Lady Miners had their opportunities early in the second half as they locked down on the Flyers on the defensive end but couldn't score on the offensive end as they were just 3-of-14 to start the second half.  Lewis eventually built a 66-50 lead with 5:11 to play after four straight points from Kish.

S&T scored nine straight in a span of two minutes pulling within 66-59 getting five of those from Parks and the other four from Hall.  The Flyers pushed the lead back to nine on a pair of free throws by Devon Carbaugh with less than three minutes to play.

Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) hit a three with 2:42 to play to make it a six point contest. The Lady Miners couldn't get a stop on the defensive end as Hall fouled Reinhart and she made 1-of-2 to make it 69-62 with 2:22 to play.

After a missed layup by Parks, Lewis got the rebound and Jamie Johnson made it 71-62 on a jumper with 1:40 remaining.  Hall made a three on the next possession then picked Johnson's pocket and scored to make it 71-67 with 1:11 to play.

S&T was forced to foul in the final minute and sent Johnson to the line with 0:51 left. She made 1-of-2 extending the lead back to five.  Meyer made it 72-69 on the next possession hitting a jumper in the lane with 0:38 left.

The Lady Miners were again forced to foul sending Johnson back to the line as she hit both free throws extending the lead back to five with 0:22 remaining.  S&T turned it over as Hall had a pass go off her hands into the Lady Miners bench with 0:13 left. The Lady Miners fouled Murdock who missed the front end of a 1-and-1.

Meyer hit a jumper with 0:05 left for the final points of the game.

S&T recorded season-highs in both shots (71) and three-point attempts (27) but made only 28 and eight respectively. It also shot a season-low nine free throws. The Lady Miners were outrebounded by a 40-to-33 margin.

Hall scored a career-high 19 points to lead S&T while Meyer recorded a double-double in her final game as a Lady Miner with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Parks finished with 11 points and nine rebounds. Kemp, also playing her last game in an S&T uniform, had eight points.

Lewis shot 47 percent (24-for-51) from the floor, was 10-of-19 (53 percent) from downtown and 16-for-22 (73 percent) at the charity stripe. Kish, Reinhart and Murdock combined to score 51 of the 74 points.

S&T ends its season at 18-9 overall and finished third in the GLVC's West Division.

Click here for the game's full box score.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

The third and fourth grade Dexter Bearcats hit the courts on Saturday afternoon when they competed in the Stoddard County Mayhem tournament. The 'Cats took on fourth grade teams from Kennett and New Madrid in the all-day event.

"We tried to get five teams, but just couldn't get that fifth team," third grade coach Dave Ellinghouse said. "We got Kennett and New Madrid to come up, tried to get Jackson and Charleston, but just couldn't get a fifth team."

"We wanted the third grade boys to play some better teams," he continued. "We thought we might get Jackson's third grade team down here; we saw them play at the Farmington tournament the week before, and knew they were pretty good."

Ellinghouse noted the tournament wouldn't have been possible without the support of Jamie Rowe and the Dexter Parks and Recreation department.

"I talked to Jamie about putting it together, and she said they would be glad to host it," he said. DPR opened up it's newest facility, located next to the Dexter Aquatic Center, for the tournament.

Due to the small field, the tournament was set up with a three-game round robin tournament to determine seeding, followed by a single elimination bracket later in the day. The third grade squad struggled against their older opponents early in the day, but Ellinghouse said it was good for his team to face the tougher competition.

"Kennett had a big kid inside, had a couple quick guards," he said. "Had them within four with about a minute left; went with a small lineup to try to press them and get steals, 'speed' them to death. Wound up with two or three unforced turnovers, and lost by nine."

"We lost to New Madrid by six," Ellinghouse continued. "They had a big kid that scored 10 or 12 points, and we missed 12 free throws, so there's the difference right there. A third grader scoring 10 points is a lot."

The fourth grade 'Cats, coached by Darren Hillis and Steve Wyman, made quick work of both the Kennett and New Madrid teams during round-robin play. The coaches elected to skip the round robin matchup between the two Dexter teams, as the two would immediately rematch in the first round of bracket play.

The fourth grade 'Cats were able to pick up a win over the younger 'Cats and move into the Championship Game. Kennett dispatched New Madrid in the other bracket contest to seal the Championship matchup.

The fourth grade Bearcats cruised to a big win over Kennett in the tournament finals to take home first place.

The Stoddard County Mayhem tournament was the final tournament of the year for the third grade squad, who ended the season with a 14-5-1 record; the 'Cats also averaged a 16 point margin of victory in their wins.

The fourth grade squad finished the year with a 22-2 record; their two losses came against a fifth grade team out of Bernie and a team out of Park Hills, Mo., with only total points deciding the two losses.



Thanks SMT Reader and Bearcat Mom Amy Ellinghouse for the photos!

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Lafayette cut a 14-point halftime deficit to five on three occasions in the final minutes, but the comeback fell short on Saturday as American held on for a 76-69 win in the Patriot League regular-season finale.

Fifth-seeded Lafayette will now play fourth-seeded Holy Cross on Wednesday in the Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinal in Worcester, Mass. The teams split the season series with each team winning on the other's home court. The Crusaders were Lafayette's first-round opponent in the 2011 tournament when Lafayette advanced to the Patriot League championship game.

Ryan Willen had his third double-double of the season and seventh of his career, finishing with 16 points and 13 rebounds. The Leopards outrebounded a Patriot League opponent for the third time this season, 45-31, the team's largest rebound margin of the season. Seth Hinrichs pulled down a career-high eight rebounds to go with Willen's career-best performance.

Lafayette (12-17, 7-7) and American (19-10, 10-4) traded 7-0 runs to open the game with AU taking its first and Lafayette responding. The game was tied 9-9 at the 12:33 mark. The Eagles ripped off a 20-2 run. Tony Wroblicky had five points in the span and Mike Bersch added two three-pointers and Charles Hinkel contributed another as AU led 29-11 with 4:48 left in the opening stanza.

Hinrichs stopped the AU spurt with a drive and dunk. American led by as many as 20 twice in the first half and held a 36-22 advantage at intermission. Lafayette shot 30 percent from the floor in the first half including 1-for-11 from long range.

The Leopards came out of the locker room with renewed intensity, slicing the American lead to 10 (53-43) with 10:39 left on Jim Mower's three-pointer from the top of the arc off a Hinrichs' feed. Mower finished with 10 points as one of three Lafayette players in double figures.

Two minutes later, Bersch put back a missed Hinkle jumper to push the AU lead back to 14. Nick Petkovich followed with a three, and three free throws from Willen moved the deficit to eight (57-49) with 5:49 left.

Troy Brewer (13 points) nailed two crucial three-pointers on consecutive possessions and Daniel Munoz added a layup as American led 65-51 with 4:41 left. Rob Delaney, who finished with 14 points, drained a three-pointer with 1:37 left to put the score at 68-62.

Willen's layup with 1:19 left in the game put the Eagles' advantage at five and again with 37 seconds remaining on two more Willen foul shots. The Leopards pressured the inbounds pass but Blake Jolivette sneaked away down the court to put in a layup that ran the final to 76-69.

Lafayette shot 37 percent for the game and 7-for-28 from three-point land. The Eagles fared better from long distance, converting 10-of-17 (59%) while shooting 47 percent from the floor.

Click here for the game's full box score.

Editor's Note: Alan Flannigan returned to action for the Leopards after missing several games due to concussion symptoms. The freshman saw limited minutes, but took a step in the right direction by getting back on the court.