There have been a few changes to LBB's schedule when they take on Neelyville on Thursday night.

ShowMe Scoreboard, 1.09.2012

Games played Monday, January  9, 2012

High School Boys

• Sikeston 76, DeSoto 73
• Perryville 81, Eldorado 30

High School Girls

• Dexter 56, Kennett 26
• Meadow Heights 76, Lesterville 52
• Notre Dame 62, Farmington 57
• Chaffee 53, East Prairie 43
• Charleston 65, Kelly 47
• Jackson 47, DeSoto 32
• Senate-Hornersville 56, Malden 48 

NCAA Men

• Cincinnati 68, Georgetown 64
• Connecticut 64, West Virginia 57
• Oklahoma State 72, Oklahoma 65

NCAA Women

• East Kentucky 62, Murray State 61
• Tennessee Tech 80, Tennessee State 71

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

The Lady Bearcats picked up another blowout win in their return home on Monday night. The ‘Cats downed the Kennett Lady Indians 56-26 in their second meeting of the 2011-2012 season.

Paige Patterson and Brittany Harris were given the task of shutting down the Tribe’s potent Audrey Wynne, who dropped 27 points on the Bearcats in the Lady Royals Christmas Classic.

Patterson and Harris delivered in a big way, holding Wynne to just nine points in the contest.


“I thought Paige and Brittany did a great job tonight switching off on Wynne and limiting her touches; last time we played them, she had 27 points, and tonight, she had nine,” LBB head coach Chad Allen said after the game. “A few of those points, I’d typically refer to as ‘garbage points’ where the ball just bounced to her.”

“The past few days, we’ve been working hard on a game plan to try and stop [Audrey] Wynne and trying to put a lot of pressure on [Darby] Sparks in the full-court press,” Allen added. “I thought the girls executed that really well. We really tried to take the ball out of Sparks’ hands, and I think that threw them off offensively.”

The Lady ‘Cats played outstanding defense all night, and held the Tribe to single-digit scores in each frame of the contest. The ‘Cats struggled shooting the ball at times throughout the game, but their potent defense kept the Indians in check.

“The girls did a really good job tonight defensively. Offensively, we didn’t shoot the ball very well; I thought we came out flat, especially in the second quarter when we only had six points,” Allen said. “We didn’t have a lot of energy; I thought we took too many perimeter shots and didn’t try to get it inside like we did in the first quarter.”

The Lady ‘Cats opened the game with a 16-2 run that spanned the entire first quarter and part of the second, but the Tribe rattled off nine unanswered points to cut Dexter’s lead to 16-11 at the 1:15 mark of the second quarter. Mollie Whitehead picked up a loose ball and dumped it to Harris for a layup at the buzzer to send the ‘Cats into halftime with a 22-11 lead.

The Lady ‘Cats continued to bombard the Tribe throughout the second half, aided by a 12 point effort from Harris, and five point efforts from both Alison Jarrell and Patterson in the fourth quarter.

Despite a late surge by the Indians, the Lady ‘Cats were still able to take home another victory with a 30 point-plus margin. Allen noted a few areas of concern with his team’s offensive performance, but was pleased overall.

“We came out with some different sets that we didn’t run in the first half, but we got out to a 6-0 run to open the second half. I thought we executed offensively well then, but then we started standing around again,” he said. “We need to learn to keep playing offensively, to keep moving and setting screens. We just didn’t have a lot of energy tonight, offensively.”

The Lady ‘Cats move to 12-2 with the victory, and will be in action again Thursday, when they face Neelyville in their last home contest before a four game road trip.

“It’s another good team; Neelyville is just as good as Kennett, if not better,” Allen said. “They’re a little quicker, and it will probably be more of a fast-paced game. We’re going to have to go to the game film and see how to take some things away from them.”

Tipoff for the game is pushed back to 6:30 p.m., as the Freshman Boys team has a contest with Poplar Bluff set for 5:00.

After Wednesday’s loss at Williams Baptist, Jeff Walk said that Mineral Area was very similar to Williams and that his Three Rivers Lady Raiders could face a similar outcome Saturday if they did not step up to the plate.

He was right.

After taking a five-point lead to the locker room, Three Rivers scored just four field goals in the first 17 minutes of the second half – including going almost nine minutes without a basket – and dropped its Region XVI opener 64-57 to the Lady Cardinals Saturday at the Black River Coliseum.

“We came out just flat as a pancake,” Walk said. “We didn’t change anything at half. This game is so much mental and we’ve got to overcome that.”

Mineral Area (9-8, 1-0 XVI) opened the second half on an 11-0 run to take the lead for good. Rita Banaszczak’s three-point play with 17:33 to go snapped a 27-all tie, while Taylor Ignoto’s 3-pointer capped the run with 16:18 remaining.

The Lady Raiders (6-7, 0-1) did not give up, cutting the deficit to 39-36 on Tara Porter’s basket with 11:24 left in the game, but went cold afterwards, not scoring another field goal until Whitney Mills drained a trey with 2:39 to go. By then the Lady Cardinals led 55-41.

Cold shooting from the field and from the line proved devastating Saturday for Three Rivers – the team missed eight of its first 12 free throws in the second half and finished the game just 40 percent (8-for-20) from the charity stripe. That in addition to shooting just 33 percent (22-of-67) from the field.

By contrast, Mineral Area made 78 percent (25-for-32) of its foul shots.

“You’ve got to make free throws – and you’ve got to make shots, period,” said Walk.

Three Rivers did make one final push. Trailing 60-47 after Mineral Area’s Jerica Wheeler hit a pair of free throws with 42.3 seconds left, the Lady Raiders used some stiff defense and quick scoring to go on a 10-2 run, capping it with Abbie Warren’s basket with seven seconds left.

But it was too little, too late, a sentiment Walk agreed with.

“We did finish strong, but we’ve just got to have that spark earlier in the game,” Walk said.

Mills led Three Rivers with 14 points, while Carolyn Overton added 13 in the loss.

Ignoto led all scorers with 18 points, while Banaszczak added 15.

The Lady Raiders are back in action Monday when they host Lewis and Clark. Tipoff time is set for 6 p.m. at the Bess Activity Center.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

PARK HILLS - Between the early-morning bus time and the long drive North, the Bearcat Wrestlers had a long day on their hands Saturday at the 12th Annual Central Invitational Tournament.

The early morning didn’t affect the wrestlers, as every member of the team finished at .500 or above and the squad took home second-place overall in the tournament.

“The boys did an excellent job today. Having five varsity wrestlers out for one reason or another, we definitely showed strength in our numbers,” head coach Rick Schwab said. “The second place trophy is Dexter's first in well over a decade. Our boys were very focused and knew the opportunity they had in front of them.”

The Bearcats opened the day with a 78-6 routing of the Festus Tigers, and knocked off St. Mary’s with a 60-15 score to advance to the Championship Bracket.

Dexter defeated regional rival NMCC 60-24 in the opening round of the championship bracket, and knocked off DeSoto 51-30 in the semifinals.

The Bearcats moved on to face the Hillsboro Hawks for the tournament championship, but the Hawks were able to squeak by the Bearcats with a 42-34 advantage.

The ‘Cats wrestled four freshman - Ben Dachs (106 lbs.), Colton Averett (126 lbs.), Cody Gibson (145 lbs.), and Dylan Bazarian (160 lbs.) - in the tournament with a combined record of 14 wins and six losses. Cole Dean (138 lbs.) and Zach Lacy (220 lbs.) were both able to put together perfect 5-0 runs on the day.

“In spite of facing adversity the came together as individuals and a team to make a great showing,” Schwab said of his team.

The Wrestlers will hit the mats again on Tuesday, January 17th, when they have a match against Festus and Anna-Jonesboro at Notre Dame Regional High School in Cape Girardeau. The match is set to get underway at 6:00 p.m.