Dexter, Missouri - The first six games of the season featured great defense by the Dexter Lady Cats, but the offense was lacking at times. That all changed on Thursday night against the New Madrid County Central Lady Eagles.
The Cats jumped out to an 11-0 lead and really never looked back. Brittany Harris and Paige Patterson, both who had 15 points on the night had 9 of those first 11 points to start the game off right. After a six point run by New Madrid County Central, the Lady Cats came back with another 11 point run of their own featuring free throws by Patterson and baskets by Erica Cobb, Mollie Whitehead and Hannah Noe. A free throw by Noe and another basket by Harris gave the Cats a 25-8 first quarter advantage.
The Dexter girls opened up the second quarter with a 3 pointer by Alison Jarrell, a basket by Makayla Waldner and a basket by Harris to open a huge 32-8 lead. From there the Lady Cats outscored the Lady Eagles 16 - 10 to end the quarter with baskets from Cobb (who had 15 on the night) Jarrell (14 points on the night) free throws by Katelynn Frazier (who led the team with 7 assists) and Patterson. At the half the Cats had a 30 point lead.
It was more of the same in the second half as the outside shooting was showcased. The Lady Cats made 6 three pointers in the second half as Cobb, Jarrell and Noe each hit from long distance. Throw in baskets by Whitehead and Frazier and a big fourth quarter by Paige Patterson on the offensive glass and you get a decisive 82-43 victory.
Scoring that happened on Thursday night doesn't just come by itself. It takes the play of guards who will get the ball to the right player. Coach Allen mentioned the work of Katelynn Frazier in particular on Thursday night. "Katelynn has really come on at the point guard spot. Coach Sitzes and I have really noticed how she has picked up her game recently".
The Lady Cats will be ion action again Saturday as they will open the Twin Rivers Christmas Tournament as the number one seeded team and will take on Malden at 9 Saturday morning.
( LBB Statistics are not official)
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The Richland Rebel Basketball Team has been having a rough season so far after their close loss to the Campbell Camels and to the Bloomfield Wildcats. But their season has finally turned around after their game on Tuesday, December 11th, against the Marquand-Zion Tigers.
This was a great game for all the players, but it was a remarkable game for senior Richard Forshee (#50) because this was his first game of his final season as a Richland Rebel. Forshee has recently been benched due to torn tendons in his foot that took a couple weeks to officially heal. The Rebels and coaches are glad to have him back on the court. Forshee is building himself back up slowly but surely and scored a total of 10 points during the Marquand-Zion game.
The Rebels started off strong, scoring the first points of the game and holding a fairly large lead over the Tigers during the first quarter. The Tigers had a hard time getting passed the Rebels’ defense and couldn’t seem to hit double digits throughout the first quarter while the Rebels had a total of 35 points.
The second and third quarter were a bit more challenging but the head coach, Matt Cline, told his players to “press” the other team so that defense was continuously harder and harder to push through. With the new defense technique, the Tigers had even more trouble breaking through the Rebels so that they could score.
Throughout the game, the Rebels sunk a lot of free throws and senior Jesse Barnes, in particular, only missed one out of all of his shots, making him the lead scorer of the night. The Rebels had great defense, and one of the contributors to that was senior Tyler Jacobs. Along with defense, the Rebels also had an impressive offense that included sophomores Skyler Harper and Marcus Grayson, who were both close to the top scoring position.
At the end of the fourth quarter, the Rebels took a humongous victory over Marquand-Zion High School, by doubling their points. The final score was 82 to 40, allowing the Rebels to make an official come back for this season. Both coaches believe that this could be a real comeback for the Rebels because it showed the players that they really do have what it takes to pull out a large win like they did on Tuesday.
The fans, coaches, and players are excited about their latest victory and are looking forward to their next game on Friday, December 14th, against the Dexter Bearcats at the new Bearcat Center.
Jessica Snider
It was another tough night for the Boys Varsity Bearcat Basketball Team as they fell at home to the Jackson Indians.
The Bearcats went up against Jackson for the first time this season last week as part of the SEMO Conference Tournament. The Bearcats ultimately fell, but came out strong in the fourth quarter in hopes to turn the game around.
Last nights’ game was a little different for the Bearcats as they failed to get their offensive game going. There were little shots that were missed on almost each possession.
With the clock continually running most of the fourth quarter and many players in foul trouble, Jackson posted a 56-24 victory over the Dexter Bearcats in the Bearcat Event Center.
The Bearcats always have a tough schedule at the beginning of the year as they compete against Charleston, Sikeston, and then leap right into the SEMO Conference Tournament the next week to play Sikeston again and then compete against Jackson. The competition is tough for the Bearcats in the beginning, but instead of letting it discourage them they should use it as a tool to help defeat the teams coming up next on their schedule.
The Dexter Bearcats will be back in action as they take on the Richland Rebels Friday night in the Bearcat Event Center. The Junior Varsity will take the court at 6:00 P.M. with Varsity directly following.
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer
The Varsity team played extremely well last night. It was clear the Mules were on top of their game with a score of 46 - 15 at the end of the first half.
B.J. Jennings scoring 20 total points followed by Joey Walker with 13 points. Both Troy Kirkpatrick and David Baker scored 11 points and 10 points respectively. What a team effort the Bernie Mules displayed to get the win. The Varsity team's record a fantastic 6 - 0 for the year!
"We got solid play up and down our line-up tonight," declared Head Basketball Coach Brad Botsch. Coach also stated "We still have many things to work on to play at the level I think that we are capable of, and with hard work, we will continue to improve."
The JV team showed just as much spirit with a win over Woodland as they are now 6 - 0 on the season as well. Brandon Sparks scored the most points with 16 total for the game, followed by Caleb Ellenburg with 15 points and Matt Vernon with 10 points. Final score was Bernie 56, Woodland 34. Way to go Mules!!
Coach Botsch was extremely proud of both teams. "This group of players is competing hard and we will continue to work on some things to help us improve."
Join the Bernie Mules this Friday night, December 14th at Bell City as they take on the Rams. Should be a great game!
The tournament begins next Saturday with the first game beginning at 9:00 AM when the Dexter Lady Bearcats take on the Malden Greenwaves. It will be a busy day as seven additional games will take place in the opening round of the tournament.
Be sure to make the trip to Twin Rivers High School to catch the games next weekend. The Lady 'Cats will potentially play additional games on Monday and Thursday should they keep their winning ways.
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