Dee Loflin, SMT Writer
Dexter, Missouri - The Lady Bearcats traveled to West Plains, Missouri on Saturday to play the Republic Lady Tigers.
It looked like an easy win for the Lady Cats as they were leading 31-16 early in the second quarter. Then the Lady Tigers came alive with energy as they made up 10 points in the last four minutes of the first half. End the period at 31-26 before going into the locker room.
Coming out in the 3rd quarter, the Dexter Bearcats scored four straight points to extend the lead to nine, but Alice Heinzler (Lady Tigers) was on fire and hit two 3-pointers and a free throw to make it a one-point game. Sarah Kreul (Lady Tigers) scored a bucket and hit a free throw. The Lady Tigers had their first lead of the game with 2:02 remaining in the 3rd quarter.
The Lady Tigers owned the 4th quarter with Alice Heinzler scoring 15 points in the final eight minutes to help Republic hold off Dexter. She was seven of seven from the free throw line in the 4th period.
Sarah Kreul was playing with a broken nose and ripped her face mask off in frustration when the Lady Bearcats built their lead early in the game. That must have given her the momentum to score against the Cats as she was the only other lady tiger in double digits with ten points.
Alice Heinzler (Lady Tigers) tied a school record with 36 points to overcome a 15-point deficit to topple the Lady Bearcats. She rained down seven 3-pointers on the Bearcats defense, and 22 of her 36 points came in the second half. It was just her day!
Hanah Noe #10 lead the Bearcats with 15 points during the game. Paige Patterson #22 was also in double digits with 10 points for the Lady Bearcats.
The Dexter Lady Bearcats have had an extremely promising year with their record of 22-2 and ranked #5 in their Class. It just wasn’t enough to overpower the Republic Lady Tigers who are 22-1 and ranked #2.
The Lady Bearcats (22-3) will be in action again in Jackson, Missouri on Monday, February 18th as they take on the Lady Indians. Game time is 6:00 p.m.
YHCtv will be broadcasting the game live on Dexter's Hometown Channel 21.
