FRANKFORT, Ky. – Shawnee State (Ohio) won the first game of the 2012 NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship presented by Kentuckytourism.com in decisive fashion, 68-47, over William Woods (Mo.). The Bears improve to 2-0 in opening round play and advance to face the winner of Azusa Pacific (Calif.)/MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) on Friday at 9 a.m. The event is held at the Frankfort Convention Center in Frankfort, Ky.

Solid defense and timely shooting was the theme for Shawnee State, who held the Owls to only 26.9 percent (14-of-52) shooting from the field, including a 7-for-18 effort from beyond the arc, while shooting 48.1 percent (26-of-54) on the game.

Alex Pohl posted her team-leading 16th double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Schera Sampson added 15 points and six boards, respectively.

Shawnee State took total control of the contest in the first half, outscoring William Woods, 45-18, in the opening frame. The second half was not much kinder to the Owls, who failed to cut the deficit to less than 19 points.

Sharron Andrews and Ashlee Taylor paced William Woods with seven points each. Taylor also picked up seven boards and three steals in the contest.

With the loss, the Owls finish the season with a 23-10 overall record.

Click here for the full box score.

The 10th Annual BA All-Star Extravaganza announced this year’s All-Star Players & Teams during a Coaches Team Draft meeting at Fiddlers Restaurant in Dexter, MO.

The BA All Star Extravaganza will be held Saturday, April 14, 2012 in the Bearcat Event Center in Dexter, MO. The fun filled day will highlight high school seniors nominated and voted on by coaches and athletic directors from 65 area schools. The all star Volleyball teams will compete starting at 9 am followed by the Class 1 & 2 Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball and Class 3, 4 & 5 Boys basketball games. Also included throughout the day are skills competitions and the popular 3-point shoot out and slam dunk competitions sponsored by the Bank of Advance.

Following the day’s games & competitions, the All-Star Extravaganza will close with the Awards Presentation in the Bearcat Event Center. Players, coaches and area schools will be recognized and the event will feature guest speaker, Dickie Nutt, Southeast Missouri State’s Head Basketball Coach.

The activities at the Bearcat Event Center are open to the public. Please join us as we salute the talents of our area High Schools Seniors.

Click here for the full roster!

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

The DHS track team is quite the unknown heading into the 2012 season. A lot of youth, coupled with inflated numbers over past seasons, leaves many questions about Coach Jill King's squad.

"It's been tough. They're so young that it's hard to figure out where you're going to put all of them. The girls, a lot are back and we have some freshman," King said. "The guys, a lot of them are young. I think we'll be better in middle-distance races than in sprints, and we'll be better in some other areas than we have in the past, so we'll see what happens. This is the most guys we have had in a long time - I think we had 28 come out this year, opposed to eight last year."

The girls squad lost some major talent in the jumps last season, but retained their state-qualifying 4x100 meter relay team. King expects to look to her senior girls for their ability to score points and leadership this year.

"Of my senior girls, I have three back, and they've all scored a lot of points for us in the past - it'll be a mixture of who is ready to step up and who keeps up what they've been doing," she said. "My girls 4x100 meter relay team that went to state last year is back - Taylor Martin, Lindsey Hindman, Brooke Baker, and Samantha Midgett."

"Taylor [Martin] will solid in sprints again, and I also have her high-jumping this season. I lost Madison Pixley and Raezheem Miller last year, and they were both excellent jumpers" King continued. "Christina Harris, a sophomore, is trying out triple jump, and if she works at it she could be amazing at that."

King noted that her throwers are looking better than they have in several years, despite having several freshman and inexperienced upperclassmen in the lineup.

"I think in the throws, we'll be more competitive this year than we have in the past. Jessica Lindsey is a powerhouse; Mollie Whitehead is outstanding in discus, and Sarah Langley, Destiny Robinson and Shana Bess are all looking great," King said. "Daniel [McCoy] and Dylan [Sandlin] both graduated last year. Andrew Collier was a solid thrower last year in middle school. Zach Lacy and Dylan Heflin are throwing this year - they don't have any meets for me to compare to anything, so I'm anxious to see how they do."

Lindsey, Robinson, Bess and Collier are all freshman; Whitehead is returning to the pit after spending her freshman year with the softball team.

"If those freshman stick with it, they can be competitive in the next three years," King noted.

The boys team's youth was a key concern for King, as well as losing junior Austin Richardson for the early part of the season. Richardson had an outstanding year in the high jump and triple jump last season.

"The guys are just so young; we don't have any outstanding sprinters that I know of, unless someone 'comes out of their shell' and shows they can do it," she said. "We have guys that want to try hurdles, and guys that want to jump and throw. Most of our guys are 400 and 800 meter runners, so we have a gap in the 100 and 200."

"I lost Austin Richardson, a great jumper, after he had knee surgery. He'll be back later this season, so we'll see how he does after he comes back."

The Bearcats have just one home meet this season, held on April 17, and are set to open the 2012 season on Tuesday (March 20), when they head to Cape Girardeau for the Cape Central Open. The meet is scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start.

Click here to download the 2012 Track schedule.

Photos Above:
Top: Samantha Midgett works on the hurdles under the watchful eye of coach Greg Lummukka.
Middle: Taylor Martin works on her new event for 2012, the high jump.
Bottom: Senior Zach Lacy, in his first year as a member of the track team, works on his form in the shot put during Tuesday's practice.




LANTANA, Fla.- One night after getting shutout by St. Thomas University the Palm Beach Atlantic University baseball team fired back with a 14-2 dismantling of Caldwell College on Tuesday evening at the Santaluces Complex. With both teams playing with wood bats, the Sailfish proved stronger with the sticks as they pounded out 15 hits while drawing eight walks as the offense backed a solid start from junior left-hander Jonathan Kies as the team cruised to their 10th win of the season.

The Fish opted to use wooden bats as their opponent, Caldwell College, plays in an all-wood bat conference.

Dexter native Sawyer Smith saw some of his first action of the season in the blowout win. The sophomore went 1-2 at the plate with a walk, as well as four putouts from his first base position.

The Fish will have the next few days off from game action before returning to the diamond on Friday, March 16, as they will battle Lynn University in Boca Raton at 3 pm followed by a Saturday double-header against LU at the Santaluces Complex beginning at 1 pm. All three games of the series will be broadcast on the Sailfish Sports Network.

Click here for the full box score.

POPLAR BLUFF - Just three days after battling wire-to-wire with Moberly to win the Region XVI championship, Tuesday night’s District 4 championship game against Highland was almost anticlimactic for the Three Rivers Raiders.

Three Rivers scored 19 straight points in the first half to wipe out an early deficit and were never seriously challenged as they continued their improbable postseason run, rolling to a 103-79 victory over the Cougars to win the district title and a trip to the NJCAA Tournament in Hutchinson, Kan.

“Our season has been a roller-coaster – up and down,” Three Rivers sophomore Bobby Peebles said. “But we know at the end if you win, you keep playing. If you lose, you go home. We came together as a team and we all decided that we wanted to go to Hutch.”

Said Three Rivers coach Gene Bess: “I’m a believer and I know one thing for sure – God is in control. This has been a fabulous thing to happen to this coach.”

Tuesday’s win was all the more amazing considering the fact that Highland (26-8) handed the Raiders a 92-75 defeat 15 days earlier in Freeport, Ill. to cap a three-game losing streak to end the regular season.

“My wife calls it miraculous,” said Bess, “but we came home and practiced for 10 days. We had a 10-day layoff – that was enough to blow you away – but we actually adapted to the situation and had some of the best practices of the year. The kids were pretty humbled by those three bad losses that we had and they came together during that 10-day stretch.”

After that game, many were expecting a close contest in the rematch, but Three Rivers (21-12) made sure that never happened.

Three Rivers trailed 7-5 after Jeremy Parker’s bucket just over two minutes into the game, but back-to-back baskets by Bobby Peebles put the Raiders up 9-7 at the 16:46 mark of the first half and ignited a 19-0 run that ended on Terrance Glass’ 3-pointer with 12:53 left in the opening session and a 24-7 lead.

Three Rivers led 41-19 after Ignas Palaima’s free throw with 3:09 left before the break, but the Cougars used a 7-0 run spread over both halves to cut the gap to 47-35 on Joseph Danforth’s basket with 19:29 left in the game.

“We jumped out and got a good start on them but they didn’t go away,” Bess said. “They’re a good team and they can score a lot of points in a hurry.”

However, the Raiders slowly began to pull away from there, getting the lead back to 20 points (71-51) on Glass’ bucket with 11:34 to go and never looking back the rest of the way.

Peebles led Three Rivers with 24 points, while Elgin “Eli” Lee added 17, Tarius Johnson chipped in 15, Glass tossed in 14, Rudy Harrell put in 13 and Palaima finished with 10.

Danforth paced Highland with 18 points, while Samuel Ford added 12 and the duo of Demetrius Tolliver and Aaron Nelson contributed 11 apiece.

The Raiders will open play at the NJCAA Tournament next Tuesday when they face Spartanburg Methodist. Tipoff at the Hutchinson Sports Arena is set for 4:30 p.m.