Jackson, Missouri – The Lady Cats of Dexter were eliminated in the Class 4 sectional on Tuesday with the North County Raiders winning in overtime 66 – 61.
“It was definitely a battle back and forth tonight between two good teams. Coach Arnold does a great job at North County,” commented Dexter coach Chad Allen. “I know he is hanging it up this year, but he’s a great coach and has been around a long time.”
“We went out and battled,” stated Melanie McKuin, junior Lady Cat. “We tried our hardest throughout the whole game, but they made plays and we didn’t.”
Dexter led at the end of the first quarter by only one point. At the end of the second quarter the Lady Cats led by two 25 – 23.
“Offensively, we really wanted to look high-low and tried to get it inside to either Hannah or Garrison so they could get something easy and score,” stated Allen. “I thought we did well at that and also did a good job of penetrating and kicking out to our shooters.”
Hannah Thurmon recorded 14 points and Krysten Garrison finished with 12 points.
Dakota Reynolds paced the Bearcats with 18 points including three treys.
“Dakota came out on fire, offensively,” continued Allen. “She hit some big 3’s. She’s been such a great point guard for us this year scoring and looking to penetrate and get others involved.”
At the end of the third period the girls were tied 46 – 46. They were propelled into overtime tied at 57 – 57. Both teams scored double digits in each period prior to overtime.
“It was a close game,” Allen said. “We would get up a little bit, but then they would come right back. We stayed up until the fourth quarter when they finally got the lead. Then we adjusted, started pressing and got the lead back. We just came up short in the end of a tough game.”
“We got better throughout the year,” continued McKuin. “We improved so much. This is a great team. If we would have played North County earlier in the year they would have blown us out so we have a lot to be proud of and hopefully next year we can pull out the game.”
“We played hard,” commented junior point guard Dakota Reynolds. “It is just really rough tonight. I hope we can make it to quarterfinals next year and even state.”
North County (20-7) will advance to play MICDS (24-2) in the Class 4 quarterfinal on Saturday at the Farmington Civic Center. Game time is 7:45 p.m.
The Lady Cats finish their season with a record of 17 – 10 and will graduate one senior, Miss Katie Reiker.
“We are definitely excited about what we have coming back next year,” Allen said. “We don’t lose but one senior and she is such an awesome girl and I know Katie will be successful in life in whatever she does.”
Final Score North County 66, Dexter 61 in overtime.
North County 11 12 23 11 9 - 66
Dexter 12 13 21 11 4 - 61
North County (66) – Martha Peacock 2, Madison Binkard 7, Emily Eaton 15, Marianna Falls 9, Courtney Kekec 15, Allie Hammack 3, Holly Forbes 15. FG 23, FT 14/25, F 15. (3-pointers: Binkard 2, Eaton 2, Kekec 1, Hammack 1. Fouled Out: None)
Dexter (61) – Dakota Reynolds 18, Melanie McKuin 9, Sydney Rogers 2, Hannah Thurmon 14, Krysten Garrison 12, Harley Allen 6. FG 23, FT 9/14, F 18. (3-pointers: Reynolds 3, McKuin 1, Allen 2. Fouled Out: None)
Sikeston, Missouri – The Dexter Lady Cats won the District Title for the 5th time in a row! They defeated the Sikeston Lady Bulldogs 51 – 38 after falling behind in the first quarter 12-10.
“Sikeston came out aggressive,” stated Lady Cats junior Melanie McKuin. “They came out and punched us in the face and we weren’t ready for it. We were getting mad at ourselves for the score being as close as it was and we just really buckled down on defense.”
And buckled down they did in the second period holding the Bulldogs to just 4 points; two points on free throws and one regular bucket. Half-time score put Dexter on top 26 - 16.
“Defensively, I thought we did a good job tonight, especially collapsing in on Peet and Mitchell,” commented Dexter head basketball coach Chad Allen. “Those two girls are great players that are hard to stop. I thought we did a good job denying inside and also helping when they dribble-penetrated.”
When asked how did it feel winning a District Title. “It feels a lot different this year,” stated Dexter junior Dakota Reynolds. “This year I had to step up and help out more than last year. We had four really good players last year and this year me and my partner Melanie had to step up and take over.”
Melanie McKuin paced Dexter with 20 points including one trey.
“I thought Melanie did a great job, especially with Dakota getting in foul trouble,” continued Allen. “In these kind of games she thrives. It seems like the bigger the game, the better she plays. I thought she did an outstanding job handling the ball for us, penetrating to get others open and knocking down shots when she had opportunities.”
Hannah Thurmon recorded 14 points including one 3-pointer. She also finished with a game-high 15 rebounds.
Krysten Garrison finished with 13 points.
“Hannah and Krysten are just phenomenal athletes,” McKuin said of her teammates. “They are very talented and it was really nice to see them both do really well tonight!”
Dexter (17-9) will take on North County on Tuesday at 7:45 p.m. in the Class 4 sectional at Jackson High School.
“We haven’t watched the play,” Reynolds said. “But we will probably watch film on them the next practice we have.”
“I filmed them early in the season when they were playing a preliminary game at Jackson,” Allen said of the North County team. “They are a great team and have a good player in Kekec. They are also well rounded; it’s not just her. They have got a pretty good team and hopefully we can develop a good game plan going into Tuesday night. We will see how we do!”
Final Score Dexter 51, Sikeston 38
Sikeston 12 4 8 14 - 38
Dexter 10 16 13 12 - 51
Dexter, Missouri – The T.S. Hill Middle School girls volleyball season will begin Monday, March 9th with a home game. The Woodland Cardinals will travel to Dexter with a game time of 6:00 p.m. at the middle school.
The Annual Hits for Hope game hosted at the Bearcat Event Center will be Thursday, April 9th at 6:00 p.m.
The 7th grade girls’ team will participate in the Poplar Bluff Tournament slated for March 21st with times to be announced.
The 8th grade girls’ team will participate in the annual Bernie Tournament slated for March 30th and 31st with times to be announced.
The 2015 SCAA Tournament will be held in Advance on April 11th to April 14th.
Below is a schedule of the 2015 Spring T.S. Hill Middle School Schedule.
Sikeston, Missouri – The Lady Cats begin their quest for a District Championship tonight at the Sikeston Fieldhouse. Dexter is the number one seed in girls Class 4, District 1 and will play Cape Central at 6:00 p.m.
Cape Central seeded #4 eliminated #5 seeded Kennett Lady Indians 58 – 33 in round one on Monday.
Notre Dame seeded #3 defeated #6 seed Perryville 68 – 24 and will play the #2 seed Sikeston Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday evening.
The District Championship is slated for Friday, March 5th at 6:00 p.m.
Bloomfield, Missouri – The season came to an end for the Bernie Mules with the defending state champions Scoot County Central boys basketball team defeating them in the District Championship Friday evening.
The Mules led by as much as 15 points in the first half but came up short when the top-seeded Braves rallied from behind tallying 53 points in the second half to secure their District win.
The Mules came out hot in the first two quarters leading by 13 points going into the locker room at the half.
“In the first half they played us all man and we were able to use time management,” commented Bernie head basketball coach Brad Botsch. “It is almost like in football when a team controls the offense by putting the ball on the ground and continuing to run. We are not a strong defensive team and the way we were able to compete a lot this year was by having ball-control with our ball-handling skills. We were able to execute very well in the first half and kept their scoring down, but in the second half they really stepped up.”
Braves' powerhouse Jeffery Porter hit his only 3-pointer of the game at the buzzer at the end of the third period to put Scott County Central in the lead. Porter went on to score a game-high 39 points for the Braves.
“They were hungry,” stated Botsch. “They are the best basketball program in the history of the state of Missouri and there is a reason for that. Their kids compete extremely hard and are tough. They hurt us on the glass all night long and that’s why we have to hold the ball because we are not very big and don’t play good defense. We have got to have the ball in our hands so the other team doesn’t get possessions because when they do they are either going to score or get the offensive stick back. Scott Central was relentless and I knew even at halftime with a 13-point lead we were going to have our hands completely full to try to win this game.”
Senior Caleb Ellenburg paced the Mules with a team-high 25 points.
Senior Brandon Sparks recorded 18 points including one trey.
Matt Vernon, also a senior, recorded 14 points including one 3-pointers before fouling out late in the game.
“Caleb, Brandon, and Matt have really had to carry us offensively,” Botsch said. “Caleb averaged about 20 to 21 points a game and Brandon and Matt were right at 13 or 14. We just don’t have much depth or a lot of scoring from other sources. We had to find ways to score and Caleb carried that load. If you want to win a district championship you have to get stops and we weren’t able to get stops. That has a lot to do with how good they are.”
The Bernie Mules (22-6) will graduate six seniors off their team. They won the Holcomb Invitation Tournament this year along with the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament and the Stoddard County Athletic Association (SCAA) Tournament.
“Just tremendous kids,” Botsch continued. “I cannot say enough about our seniors and the things they have done. We are going to really miss them. They are going to be great, productive individuals and have a lot to be proud of. This is what we play for and we are disappointed we didn’t win tonight, but we couldn’t be more proud of a group of kids. It was a great season. It just didn’t end like we wanted it to.”
Final Score #1 Scott County Central 73, #2 Bernie 63
Bernie 17 16 15 1 5 - 63
Scott County 14 6 31 22 - 73
Bernie (63) – Matt Vernon 14, Brandon Sparks 18, Caleb Ellenburg 25, Devin Trammell 4, Gavin Smith 2. FG 25, FT 11/12, F 19. (3-pointers: Vernon 1, Sparks 1. Fouled Out: Vernon).
Scott County Central (73) – Jeffery Porter 39, Tyus Banks 2, Drake Kesler 5, Trevion Moore 8, Javonta Daniel 13, Matthew Blissett 6. FG 29, FT 12/19, F 15. (3-pointers: Kesler 1, Porter 1, Moore 1. Fouled Out: None).
