ZALMA - Traveling sports teams are all the craze these days.  It's a very busy lifestyle for these families, yet it's filled with lots of fun and rewards for everyone.  

A group to keep your eyes on in the future is the Dexter Racers, a third grade traveling team.  The Racers have been dominant against their opponents this season, posting a 9-0 record.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

The Dexter Bearcats and Advance Hornets took to the floor of the Bearcat Event Center on Friday night; the matchup was what many expected in the championship game of last week's SCAA Tournament, but the Hornets were upset by Bernie in the semifinal round. The Bearcats were able to remain a perfect 6-0 in SCAA play after a solid defensive performance that led to a 75-47 victory over the Hornets.

"There were times in the first half where we didn't play really well," Dexter coach Rob Nichols said after the game, "but I thought right at the start of the first quarter, and in the last three minutes of the half, we played really well, and the whole second half we played really well."

The Bearcats used a 20-2 run to start the contest and build a sizable lead after the first quarter, but the Hornets battled back in the second, and got within seven points of Dexter midway through the frame.

"We were really aggressive against their press in the first quarter and got some easy looks, and we built that big lead and started settling, trading baskets for a bit," Nichols commented. "We started playing too fast and made some turnovers, but all in all I was really pleased with their effort. They tried to execute all night and played really hard."

The Bearcats jumped out to a big lead early after steals from Jordan Fitts, Tyler Miller, and Chase Young in the full-court press turned into easy layups. Ethan Barr dropped in a layup for the Hornets at the 4:30 mark for their first points of the game, but Fitts drained a trey to give the 'Cats a 15-2 advantage. Miller got hot from the perimeter late in the first, and his two threes gave the 'Cats a 25-10 lead at the end of the opening frame.

Barr cleaned up the glass for the Hornets in the second, and his three offensive rebound/stickbacks helped spark a brief comeback by the Hornets. Hunter Wilson knocked down a three at the 2:00 mark to pull the Hornets within seven, but Miller answered with his third trey of the night to help push the 'Cats to a 14 point advantage at halftime.

The Bearcats switched into a zone defense early in the third quarter and shut the Hornets down. Wilson added another trey in the third, and Lane Below put together six point efforts in both the third and fourth quarters, but the 'Cats overwhelmed Advance with great defense and secured the 75-47 victory with a running clock in the fourth.

"We'd changed defenses several times, and there in the mid third quarter we got several turnovers out of just playing a zone," Nichols said of the second half defensive performance. "We'd switched back and forth from man to zone about every two or three possessions, and it gave them trouble."

"We've been playing that 1-2-2 zone with Miller at the top off and on for a few weeks, and we've become pretty effective with it. These guys have been able to change defenses and do a good job at it. Sometimes teams will struggle when you try to change things within the flow of the game, but they don't; I was really pleased with their effort tonight."

Nichols noted Miller's excellent perimeter shooting in the contest - the senior was four of five from beyond the arc - but said it wasn't part of the game-plan coming in.

"It really just developed," he said. "Tyler gets it off quick; he doesn't need a lot of time to shoot the ball, and when he's shooting it well, it brings another dimension to this team. He played really well tonight."

In the JV contest, the 'Cats continued to show signs of improvement and picked up a 48-27 win. Sophomore D.J. Dowdy, who plays on both levels, led the young 'Cats with 16 points. Devin Hampton netted seven, while Stevie Payne and Nick Noble added six points each.

The Bearcats will be in action again on Tuesday night, when they face the Bell City Cubs for the Stoddard County Conference Championship. The 'Cats already hold a 90-47 victory over the Cubs from the first round of the SCAA Tournament.

"We play Bell City on Tuesday night," Nichols said, "and if we can win that game, we'll be 7-0 in the conference and have the regular season and tournament championships; that's something that would be great for our seniors."

Tipoff for the title game is set for 6:00 p.m. from the BEC.

ROLLA - The Missouri S&T Lady Miners were unable to keep up the scoring pace in the second half against Quincy in its 77-65 loss at home on Thursday night. S&T had no answer for the reigning Great Lakes Valley Conference's player of the year in Ali Schwagmeyer as she led all scorers with 27 points.

Quincy (14-6, 9-3 GLVC) scored the game's first seven points en route to a double digit lead just over four minutes into the contest. The lead continued to hover around that mark for the next five minutes.

The Lady Miners (13-6, 8-4 GLVC) trailed 24-13 at the 10:16 mark before clawing back to within 26-23 on a three-pointer from Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef) two minutes later. That was the closest the game was the rest of the way as the Hawks ran off seven of the next nine points to take a 33-25 advantage with less than six minutes to play in the half.

The lead grew to 42-32 on a Schwagmeyer jumper with 1:18 to left, but S&T cut it down to six getting baskets from Katelyn Heil (Dexter, Mo./Dexter) and Quintonia Evans (Evansville, Ind.) in the final minute to make it a six point game at the half.

Quincy shot 57 percent (17-for-30) in the opening frame and was 5-of-14 from downtown. Schwagmeyer led the way with 17 points while Linsay Henke added 10 more. Karlee Gengenbacher hit three three's in the first half accounting for all her points.

The Lady Miners connected on 48 percent (14-for-29) of their attempts but were only 2-of-5 from behind the arc, but 6-for-8 at the charity stripe. Julie Meyer (Marthasville, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) had 10 while Kyesha Hall (Dodson, La.) dropped in six and McLeod and Heil added five each. S&T stayed in the game thanks to its bench outscoring Quincy's 20-2 in the opening half.

The Hawks opened the second half strong going on a 10-2 run in the first five minutes extending its lead back to double digits. Gengenbacher hit a pair of three's to key the run. The lead continued to hang around the double digit mark until a bucket by Evans made it an eight point contest with 11:13 to play.

It wasn't meant to be though as Quincy put the game away with a 19-7 run spanning nearly nine minutes to build its largest lead of the night at 77-57 with 2:30 remaining.

S&T closed out the game scoring the final eight points getting five of those from Hall. The Lady Miners shot just 31 percent (9-for-29) in the second and were 0-of-10 from downtown, but were 11-for-14 at the foul line.

They finished the game shooting 40 percent (23-of-58) but connected on just 13 percent of their three-point attempts and were 17-of-22 at the charity stripe. Meyer led three players in double figures with 17 points. Hall added a career-high 14 points while Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) dropped in 10.

The Hawks shot 52 percent in the second half and finished the game shooting 54.4 percent (31-for-57). They were 9-for-23 from behind the arc and outrebounded S&T by a 35-to-28 margin. Schwagmeyer led four players in double figures. Gengenbacher had 15, Henke dropped in 12 while Kassidy Shuman added 11 more.

The Lady Miners are back at home on Saturday afternoon when they host Illinois Springfield at 1 p.m. Saturday's game is also Fort Leondard Wood/Military Appreciation Day at the Bullman. All active, reservists, dependents and retired military personnel get in free with a valid military I.D. card.

ST. LOUIS - Behind a torrid second-half shooting performance, the William Woods University women's basketball team ran out 20-point winners at Missouri Baptist on Thursday night. Miranda Loesch (Lohman, Mo.) posted a career-high 14 points, including 10 in the second half alone, as the Owls downed the Spartans 64-44.

The Owls opened up a 7-2 lead with just over two minutes gone on the strength of a bucket from Sharron Andrews (Oakland/Hayward, Calif.) and a layup and a three-pointer from Katie Scherder (Bowling Green, Mo.) and held a five-point lead for most of the first half.

Missouri Baptist narrowed the gap down the stretch, taking advantage of a pair of WWU turnovers to tie the game at 22-22 with 3:24 left in the half, but Andrews closed out the half with five straight points to take a 29-24 advantage into the locker room.

WWU was able to push out to a 10-point cushion coming out of the intermission, leading 39-29 with 14:23 on the clock. MBU pulled back within eight before a 10-3 run for the Owls - powered by four straight buckets from Loesch and capped by a basket off the turnover from Ciara Tatum (Columbia, Mo.) - put William Woods in front by a 49-34 margin with 9:23 to go.

The Spartans were able to rattle off a short spurt, pulling within reach at 50-41 with just over six minutes left, but Loesch stopped the run with a basket at the 5:43 mark and the Owls simply overpowered MBU down the stretch.

In addition to Loesch's 14-point outing, Andrews finished with 11 points and Scherder added 10 on the night. The Owls were unselfish as well, handing out 13 assists on 25 buckets. WWU posted a second-half shooting pace of .520 to finish the game at a .410 mark and held the Spartans to a .333 clip for the game. Andrea Seabaugh led the Spartans with 13 points on the night.

The Owls move to 16-6 overall and 6-1 in AMC play and will begin the second half of the conference schedule on Saturday, taking on Hannibal-LaGrange University. Tipoff for the game is set for 2 p.m.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

The Dexter Wrestling team put on a great show in front of their home crowd on Thursday night. The 'Cats took to the mats in a double-duel with Cape Central and Poplar Bluff; DHS split the match with a victory over the Tigers and a narrow defeat against the Mules.

"Effort-wise, it was definitely there. I thought we did a good job in front of our home crowd," DHS head coach Rick Schwab said. "We've been fighting some sickness and injuries here, so we couldn't put together a full, solid squad, and it ended up costing us against Poplar Bluff."

The 'Cats cruised to victory in their opening duel against Cape Central, with Wes Ashley (120 lbs.), Dylan Bazarian (152 lbs.) and Damian Glasener (195 lbs.) all picking up first-round pins.

The Mules were able to snap off three straight pins to open Dexter's second duel before state-ranked Trevor Waldner (126 lbs.) picked up a pin with :20 left in the third round.

Logan Quertermous (182 lbs.) was able to score a pin in the first minute of his match, and Zach Lacy (220 lbs.) pinned Trent Welborn 1:05 into the second round of his match.

Glasener put on one of the better matches of the night during his bout with Jacob Sliger; the 195 pounders for Dexter and Poplar Bluff slugged it out in the first round, with neither one able to score a point. Sliger took control early in the second round before Glasener was able to get a reversal and pin at the 1:48 mark.

"Damien has been one of the one's that's been sick; he'd been out for an entire week with this bug that's been going around. Coming out and getting back after it tonight, it really turned the tide of [the match with Bluff]," Schwab said. "It was kind of down, and he picked it up and got the excitement back up."

"We've always been weaker in our light weights; we're really young, really inexperienced," Schwab noted after the bout with Bluff. "Once we get up into the middle and upper weights, we can really turn the tide and pick up the momentum. It's always saved us in the end, but tonight, Wick is out injured, Cole Dean is out sick, and Heflin is injured, so that got us tonight."

The match was the 'Cats last of the regular season; next up for the Bearcat grapplers is the district tournament. Schwab noted that his team has been tagged as the team to finally knock Ste. Genevive off the top slot in the district.

"Everybody has been talking about where we're going to be, and if we were going to be able to take Ste. Gen. this year. They've always been the team to win it, and we've always wound up in third or fourth, but everybody thinks we're going to be that team that can sneak up on them," Schwab said of his team. "It'll be tough; we'll have to bring our full game, and we're going to have to get back healthy to win the championship. I'd like to bring home the plaque, at least in the top two; I think it can happen."

Districts will be held next Friday and Saturday (Feb. 10-11) at DeSoto High School.

Editor's note: Cody Stevens and Trevor Waldner both broke the school record for takedowns in a season, previously set at 78 by Justin McCollough in the 2005 season. Waldner and Stevens are currently tied with 95 apiece.