By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

BENTON - After a disappointing home loss against the state-ranked Meadow Heights Lady Panthers on Monday night, the Lady Bearcats were out to prove a point on Thursday night at Thomas W. Kelly Memorial High School.

The Lady Bearcats, who struggled defensively in Monday night's loss, played with a much more unified effort and gave up just six shots from the floor - while only turning the ball over four times - during an 80-19 thrashing of the Lady Hawks.

The Lady 'Cats had the pedal on the floor from the get-go, and jumped out to a big lead early. Allison Jarrell knocked down a trey early in the contest on her way to a nine-point first quarter effort, and Brittany Harris dominated the paint for 10 points in the first quarter. LBB held a commanding 30-6 lead after the opening frame.

The Lady 'Cats didn't give up a field goal in the second quarter, and held the Hawks to a pair of free throws from Bridgette Chandler. Mollie Whitehead knocked down a trey, while Katelynn Frazier chipped in six points in the second to put LBB up 53-8 at halftime.

Jessica Worth hit Kelly's only field goal of the third quarter; four free throws from Chandler accounted for the rest of the Lady Hawk offense in the frame. Jarrell hit her second trey of the contest, and four point efforts from Harris and Paige Patterson put the Lady 'Cats up 68-14 heading into the final eight minutes of play.

Samantha Ratledge had a chance for the old-fashioned three early in the fourth for the Hawks, but came up short on the free throw. Patterson added six more points for the Lady 'Cats, while Payton Jones was good on a three-point play for the Hawks. The Lady 'Cats cruised with a running clock in yet another contest, with a 80-19 decision.

The big win in the nightcap gave the Lady 'Cats a sweep of the Hawks; the JV picked up a 36-25 win in their game.

With the win, the Lady 'Cats move to 18-3 on the season; LBB will return to action on Monday night, when they travel to Cape Girardeau to face off against district rival Notre Dame.  

FULTON - Coming to the halfway point of the AMC slate, the no. 23-ranked William Woods University women's basketball team travels to St. Louis to take on Missouri Baptist University in a 5:30 p.m. tipoff. The Owls look to extend a five-game AMC winning streak and take sole possession of first place in the conference.

Quick Look - William Woods

After dropping its conference opener, William Woods has rallied to a five-game winning streak in AMC play. Sharron Andrews (Oakland/Hayward, Calif.) leads the Owls with 13.7 pts/gm in conference, and she also leads the team with 5.8 rebounds per game. Megan Aubuchon (Old Monroe, Mo.) adds 5.3 rebounds per game and 9.2 pts/gm on the conference slate. As a team, the Owls are shooting at a .416 rate against conference foes and have posted a .452 accuracy rate from 3-pt range within the AMC. Free throw shooting is the only statistical area where WWU is outperformed in conference action, although it's only on a percentage basis (.681 to .758) as the squad's seen nearly twice as many chances (113 to 66) from the stripe, but has hit on 27 more (77-50).

On the overall slate, the Owls are nationally-ranked in a number of categories, highlighted by strong defensive showings. WWU is ranked no. 16 among NAIA Division I teams in scoring defense, holding its foes to just 56.5 pts/gm on the year, as well as a no. 19 ranking in shooting defense (.359) and a no. 38 ranking in rebounding defense (37.0/gm). The Owls are also ranked in blocks, holding the 31st-best spot in both total blocks (69) and blocks per game (3.3) on the 2011-12 season.

Individually, Andrews is also ranked in the top 50 in three categories. The senior is 29th in the country in steals per game (2.6) and total steals (54) and her shooting percentage of .480 is 31st among NAIA Division I players.

Quick Look - Missouri Baptist

Although the Spartans have struggled to a 6-15 overall record and a 0-6 mark in AMC action, they are among the top performers in a few statistical categories for the NAIA. MBU is ranked 10th in the country in 3-pt field goal percentage, with a mark of .343 on the year and its 6.5 makes per game are good for 19th, with the total of 137 good for 23rd overall.

Individually, Andrea Seabaugh paces the Spartans with a NAIA top-50 (39th) performance of 15.0 pts/gm on the year, with her three-point shooting good for a pair of top-10 marks - total makes (6th/55) and per game makes (9th/2.6) - as well as a no. 21 ranking in accuracy at .401. Chelsea Prosser also ranks for the Spartans, with her total blocks mark of 33 good for 23rd in the country. Prosser is the leading rebounder for MBU with 6.2 on the year.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

The relationship between a player and a coach can be a complicated thing to explain. For some, it’s love-hate; for others, it can be pure love or pure hate. In the case of Charlie Spoonhour, however, the coach became a ‘father-figure’ for his players, and was loved by all.

Spoonhour was born in Mulberry, Kansas, on June 23, 1939, and died yesterday (Feb. 2, 2012) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina after a two-year battle with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a condition that causes scarring of lung tissue.

The style of play Spoonhour instilled in his players would eventually come to be known throughout the NCAA as ‘Spoonball’ featured tenacious defense and guards that could beat opponents down with a barrage of perimeter shots. This unique coaching philosophy led ‘the Spoon’ to a 373-202 record in the NCAA, including five NCAA D-II Tournament appearances with then-Southwest Missouri State and three D-I Tournament appearances with the St. Louis University Billikens. ‘The Spoon’ concluded his coaching career with a three-year stint at UNLV.

Spoonhour’s coaching career began in a much more humble fashion - he was an assistant coach for the Bloomfield Wildcats, starting in 1963. Longtime Dexter basketball coach Jim Hall, one of Spoonhour’s many great coaching friends, recalls his early days with ‘the Spoon’.

“Charlie started out in Rocky Comfort, Mo., before he came to Bloomfield in ’63, the year before I started coaching at Dexter,” Hall recollected. “We were both single and in our early 20’s - we were inseparable for nearly three years. [Charlie] went on from there to ‘bigger and better things’ you could say, but we remained close friends. We actually talked a few weeks ago on the phone; I’m glad I did, I had no idea the end was this close. You could tell from talking to him that he had lung problems.”

Hall described Spoonhour as a down-home Southern boy, and noted that even with his great successes as a coach, his personality never changed.

“He had a down-home Southern personality. You couldn’t keep from liking the guy if you met him; he was always laughing, smiling, joking. He could walk into room of 1000 people and within short time everyone would feel like best friend,” Hall said with a laugh. “[He had a] great personality, related to everyone. Never known of a soul that had anything bad to say about him. There was no ego about him, even after he became a big college coach at SMS and SLU. You’d have never known he was any different than when he was the assistant coach at Bloomfield in the 60’s. He was just as common as the day is long.”

Spoonhour brought his Southern demeanor back home in the summer of 2008, when he was the guest speaker at the annual Ben Kruse 18FORE Life Golf Tournament. Event organizer Scott Kruse also pointed out Spoonhour’s quick wit and great personality, regardless of the occasion.

“About the time I was getting really into coaching, he was up at SLU and was putting on a coaching clinic,” Kruse said. “I’m in a room with a bunch of coaches there, and he’s up there leaning with his elbow on a podium. He goes on for about 20 minutes telling stories, and everyone is just sweating and crying from laughing, like he’s a comedian.”

“He got into basketball, and in a good sense; a lot of times when ‘big-time’ coaches put on clinics, they present you with ideas that you can’t use on high school kids,” Kruse added. “His ideas were all basic, fundamental, down-to-earth stuff that he probably used when he was coaching at Bloomfield.”

Kruse noted that it was, in fact, Coach Hall that suggested getting Spoonhour to speak at the annual golf extravaganza.

“Coach Hall and Spoonhour were always really good friends; when I started 18FORE Life, I was talking to Jim and he said ‘Spoonhour would be great for a speaker’. So I called him in 2006, nervous as could be, and I asked him if he’d be the speaker. He said yes before he even knew what I was doing; he didn’t know me at all, my only ‘in’ was he knew that I was from Dexter,” Kruse recalled. “He said he would love to do it, but that was the weekend he and his wife took vacation every year. It didn’t sound like he was copping out or making an excuse; I legitimately felt it was the reason.”

“I took him at his word, and two years later, when we moved the tournament to the first weekend of June, I called him again. ‘I’d love to do it!’ he said; never asked for a dime, didn’t care if we booked his flight or not, he ended up riding with a buddy from St. Louis down here,” he added. “It was like having your great uncle come and speak; he fit right in. Norm Stewart was one of our previous speakers, and he was good, but Spoonhour was the kind of guy that literally could have talked for two and a half hours and nobody would have said ‘When is he gonna get done?’. He had probably four or five players from Bloomfield when he coached in the ’60’s at the banquet that year.”

Kruse’s fondest memory of Spoonhour, however, came shortly after he spoke at 18FORE Life; when Kruse send Spoonhour his payment for speaking, he received something back that, to this day, ‘still blows me away.’

“I didn’t know what to pay him [when he spoke],” Kruse recalled. “We flew him down here, and we put him up, but that was nothing. I remember thinking ‘I’ll just send him $2,000,’ because when you start looking for an entertaining guest speaker, it gets insane. So I sent him $2,000 and a ‘thank you’ note, and thought that was that. He sent me back a thousand dollar check, basically saying ‘too much’, and he said if we ever needed another guest speaker to call him, because he’d love coming back and he had more stories to tell.”

Both Kruse and Hall recognized Spoonhour’s many great achievements as a coach, as well as the genuinely great person that he was off the floor.

“Missouri State and SLU; he got to the tournament at schools that don’t usually go,” Kruse said, laughing. “When he went to UNLV, he tore it up out there, too. They loved him out there, and they loved him everywhere. I’d like to see what it would have taken to get the guy fired, he’s just so personable.”

“He came out to the course and walked around, hung out with everybody. He was a good ‘ole boy,” Kruse added. “He was the kind of guy that after five minutes, you’ll have a friend and a guy you could look forward to hanging out with; he was the kind of guy you’d go grab a beer with.”

“The bottom line is this: he was one of a kind. He fit that mold; he had the best personality a person could have,” Hall said. “He made you feel like you were the most important thing around him at the time when you were talking to him. [He was a] great person to be around; if you didn’t know him, then you missed out on a lot.”

Photos Above: top photo - Spoonhour delivering his address at the 2008 18FORE Life banquet (photo provided by 18FORE Life); bottom photo - Longtime friends Jim Hall (left) and Charlie Spoonhour (right) pose for a photo in Hall's Dexter home (photo provided by Jim Hall).

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.- The day is finally here as the Sailfish baseball team will open the 2012 season on Thursday, February 2nd at Roger Dean Stadium as they will battle Palm Beach County rival, Lynn University at 7:00 p.m.

Admission is free to all and fans are encouraged to enjoy an evening of college baseball at one of the finest facilities in the region.

This will mark the third straight season that PBA will begin the baseball season at Roger Dean Stadium which is home to Major League Baseball's Miami Marlins and the defending World Series champion, St. Louis Cardinals.

Dexter, Mo., native Sawyer Smith is a catcher for the Sailfish, and while he isn't expected to start today, he noted that the Sailfish are ready to be back in action.

"We feel pretty good; our team is very energetic and excited to get things rolling," Smith said. "It's been a buildup for the last few weeks and through the fall. Tonight we're going to set the tone for the rest of the season."

The Sailfish return a large majority of their roster from a season ago when the team finished 27-26 under second-year head coach and MLB Hall-of-Famer Gary Carter. The Fish have since added another big league veteran to its coaching staff in former St. Louis Cardinal All-Star Kent Bottenfield as the program's Associate Head Coach.

Lynn University returns a solid core from its team of last year when they finished 26-23 including an 8-4 victory over PBA at Roger Dean Stadium last February. The Knights are under the direction of Rudy Garbalosa who is entering his 11th season as the head skipper at Lynn while leading the program to a NCAA Division II National Championship in 2009.

"It's going to be a tough game; they were a rival of ours last year," Smith noted. "We opened last season with them at Rodger Dean Stadium. They got the win last year, so we're out for revenge tonight."

Fans will have the opportunity to participate in on-field promotions, enjoy traditional ballpark concessions, and experience a big league atmosphere from anywhere in the ballpark. Families are encouraged to bring everyone out for an exciting evening of PBA Baseball.

A live video feed as well as live statistics will be available for this game. Click here for the webcast of the game, and here to see real-time stats from the season-opener.

POPLAR BLUFF - A couple of minutes made all the difference for the Jeffco Vikings against Three Rivers Wednesday night.

LaQuinta Jefferson scored 11 of her 15 points and recorded all four of her steals during a 15-0 run as Jeffco needed just 91 seconds to erase a nine-point deficit early in the second half and defeat the Lady Raiders 84-73 in a Region XVI contest at the Bess Activity Center.

Three Rivers took a 38-29 lead on Whitney Mills’ basket with 18:53 left in the game, but Jefferson and the Vikings took over from there.

Jefferson converted steals into baskets on three of five possessions and added a pair of free throws on another to tie the game with 17:22 to go in the contest, then took another steal to the hoop less than a minute later to give Jeffco the lead for good. Jefferson then added two more free throws and Mhykeah Baez hit a basket to cap the run and make it 44-38 with 15:58 showing on the clock.

The Lady Raiders (8-13, 1-4 XVI) did not go away, narrowing the deficit to 47-45 on Carolyn Overton’s free throw with 13:57 remaining, but Jeffco answered with an 11-3 run to take a 58-48 lead on Lashonda Littleton’s free throws midway through the second half.

Overton’s basket with 8:51 remaining cut the Three Rivers deficit to 59-55, but came no closer and the Vikings added a 10-0 run late in the game to put the game on ice.

Earlier in the game, it was the Lady Raiders who made a run, going on an 8-0 run to wipe out an early deficit and take a 27-21 lead after back-to-back baskets by Overton with 3:07 left in the first half.

However, Jeffco (18-4, 4-2) fought back, getting six straight points from Littleton in the final 47 seconds of the first half to trail by just one point (30-29) before Tazonda Gibbs hit a 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer.

Overton then hit a 3 in the opening minute of the second half and Mills added a basket with 18:53 remaining in the game, setting the stage for Jefferson’s heroics for the Vikings.

Overton had a game-high 19 points for Three Rivers, while Mills tossed in 18 and Brooke Godsey finished with 10.

Littleton paced Jeffco with 18 points, while Rayven Brooks added 17, Jasmine Crawford chipped in 13 – and five steals – and Baez concluded the night with 10 points.

The Lady Raiders are back in action Saturday night when they host Region XVI foe State Fair in their annual Pink-Out Game for breast cancer awareness. Fans are encouraged to wear pink and will receive $1 off admission if they do. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. at the Bess Activity Center.

For more information on everything Three Rivers Athletics, make sure to visit RaidersAthletics.com!