Rolla, Missouri - The S&T Lady Miners Basketball Team is ecstatic about their latest win on January 19th in Rolla against the Prairie Stars from Springfield, Illinois. It was a tough game to play but the Lady Miners refused to back down from the fight. The Lady Miners has a winning season this far with 8-5, including the win that they recently took from the Quincy University Hawks on Thursday, January 17th.
Katelyn Heil (#15), is a senior at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla this year and has been on the basketball team for the past three years. She has been a big part of the Lady Miners and their team throughout her collegiate basketball career but will be graduating in the spring. Heil is a graduate from Dexter High School and even though she is hours away from her hometown, she still has a large number of fans rooting for her that are from the bootheel.
In the basketball game against the Prairie Stars last Saturday, the Lady Miners struggled against their rivals as the Prairie Stars hit six three pointers in a row, quickly catching up to the eight out of nine shots that the Lady Miners had made when the game first started. The Lady Miners only led by six but the Prairie Stars quickly stole the lead with a free throw and barely held on, leaving the score at 29 to 28.
The Lady Miners quickly stole the lead as the next quarter began as a new play started. They pulled together and had a score of 33 to 31. The Prairie Stars missed their chance to catch up to the Lady Miners but failed when the ball was turned over, allowing a Lady Miner to snatch the ball and sink a free throw, keeping the lead and creating a bigger point gap with a score of 36 to 31.
The Prairie Stars made 44% of their shots in the first half of the game while the Lady Miners made 54%. As the second half began, the Lady Miners scored one point towards their lead but missed two layups and quickly lost their chance to jump even farther ahead of their components. Three minutes into the third quarter, the Lady Miners lost their lead as the Prairie Stars scored five points, pushing the score to 37 to 36. The Lady Miners managed to make two layups and began to create a small gap between them and the Prairie stars but their competition was never far behind. The Prairie Stars were only behind by four points after the Lady Miners sunk another free throw.
It only took the Lady Miners six minutes to create a twenty-point gap between them and the Prairie Stars. It was overall the biggest lead of the night with a score of 69 to 49. The Prairie Stars continued to play hard but could not quite catch up to the Lady Miners who made 50% of their shots during the second half of the game. In the end, the Lady Miners took the win, adding another victory to their season with a total of nine wins. Katelyn Heil scored a total of three points during the game against UIS Prairie Stars and had an average of 4.4.
The Lady Miners are now headed to St. Louis on Thursday to play against the University of Missouri St. Louis Tritons. The team will be spending the weekend in St. Louis where they will prepare for their next game on Saturday, January 26th, where they will compete against the Maryville University Saints. The Lady Miners and Heil are excited for this weekend and hope to play hard against both opponents and keep up their winning streak.
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer
Travis wrestles with the Jackson USA Wrestling Team. This past Sunday, he traveled to St. Louis and competed in the AAU Ozark Districts Championship. This wrestling tournament is noted to be the oldest consecutive running tournament west of the Mississippi.
He was one of 18 kids in his weight class bracket and he finished 5th with a 6-2 on the tournament. This qualified him for the AAU State Wrestling Tournament which will be held on Sunday, February 24th. Congratulations to Travis on his success!
Awards at the AAU State Tournament will be medals to the top 6 wrestlers in the Gold Division, a trophy to the Champion and medals for 2nd - 6th place in the Blue Division and a plaque for "Most Falls by Champion" in each age group in the Blue Division.
For more information about AAU State Wrestling call 314-827-4006 or go to www.moaaustate.com. You may also contact Greg Kloeppel at greg@moaaustate.com.
The ShowMe Times wishes Travis the best of luck!!
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer
The Dexter Bearcats were on top of their game last night as they demolished the Woodland Cardinals in the first round of the SCAA Tournament. Final score Dexter 61 Woodland 31.
If the Bearcats had not scored one point in the second half they still could have pulled off the win. By half-time, Dexter had racked up a total of 43 points, still enough to beat the Cardinals who only had 11 points on the board.
Dexter had three players with double digits during this first round of SCAA Tournament play. Chase Young, #3 was the top scorer for the Bearcats with 17 points and D.J. Dowdy, #11 right behind him with 16 points. Ryan Joyner, #33 had 10 points for the Bearcats.
The Dexter Bearcats have been playing much better in recent weeks, despite the loss to NMCC last Friday night. If they can get past Advance on Thursday evening, they have a good shot at winning the SCAA Tournament. Dexter just recently won a great game against Bernie, who is considered to be the top seed to win the tournament.
Advance is going to be tough with their win over Richland in their first round of action by a score of 82 to 38 as they are on a winning high for this tournament. Game time is Thursday January 24th at 7:00 p.m. when the Dexter Bearcats try to take the sting out of the Advance Hornets.
Tonight's match-ups are Bernie vs Bell City at 7:00 p.m. and Bloomfield vs Puxico at 8:30 p.m. These should be some awesome games to watch tonight at the Bloomfield High School.
Written by
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer
Dexter, Missouri - The Dexter Lady Cats will be traveling to Charleston, Missouri on Saturday, January 26th to participate in the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament.
Once again, the Charleston Lady Bluejays basketball team will be raising money to fight cancer. On Saturday the Lady Bluejays will be one of fourteen teams participating in their annual Coaches vs. Cancer Shootout at the Charleston High School.
Coach Josh Thompson stated, “We have had a lot of folks touched in some way by cancer here in Charleston and the surrounding area. Everyone is affected in a small town, so we are just trying to do our part to help fight it.
The very first year proceeds from the event were donated to the American Cancer Society in honor of Eva Grissom Henshaw, who was the Athletic Director at East Prairie, Missouri when she died of cancer at the age of only 52. She was well loved by many students and impacted the lives of all that knew her.
Last year the Lady Bluejays gave 100% of the proceeds to the St. Francis Foundation in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. They provide free mammography screenings for woman who otherwise could not afford them.
The Lady Bluejays took it upon themselves to sign-up sponsors and get donations from businesses around the area to help with concessions and general donations in running this shootout.
It is truly a worthwhile cause and it raises breast cancer awareness in our area. Last year the Lady Bluejays received word from the St. Francis Foundation that three women had some type of breast cancer issue. Had they not been screened their illness could have gone undiagnosed and untreated.
The Sikeston Lady Bulldogs will start the day at 10:30 a.m. playing Scott County Central, followed by Greenville vs. Portageville at noon.
The East Prairie Lady Eagles will take on the Woodland Lady Cardinals at 1:30 p.m. and the Dexter Lady Bearcats will play St. Joseph’s Academy at 4:30 p.m.
New Madrid will play at 6:00 p.m. against Meadow Heights.
Charleston will end the slate of games by hosting Twin Rivers at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are available at the door and are $6.00 each.
Dexter MO - After a week long layoff, the Dexter Lady Bearcats were forced to take on the Perryville girls with out the services of leading scorer Brittany Harris. Fans wondered how the girls would fare without their senior leader. The answer, "just fine thank you!"
The Lady 'Cats got a slow start with a couple of missed shots and a turnover. Paige Patterson got the scoring started with a free throw, followed by a basket by Mollie Whitehead. Alison Jarrell delivered on the first of five three pointers on the night, and another three point shot by Hannah Noe. Paige hit another basket giving the Cats a 11-0 lead.
The Bearcats increased their score to 16-2 with a three-point basket by Mollie Whitehead and a field goal by Noe. Momentum began to swing toward the Perryville Pirates at that point in the game as they mounted a scoring drive to cut into the Bearcat lead.
With the score of 16-8, Erica Cobb was able to hit a 3-point shot to keep the Bearcats on top 19-13 at the end of the first quarter.
Katelynn Frazier came out hot in the second quarter posting the first 6 points of the second quarter. Perryville continued to hang around playing the 'Cats tough. At one point, the Pirates had cut the Bearcat lead to only 9-points, 28-19.
With a quick timeout by Chad Allen and assistant coach Eric Sitz, the Lady 'Cats found a new inspiration both offensively and defensively. The Bearcats went on a commanding 15 - 0 run to close out the quarter with a score of 42 - 19. Alison Jarrell led the 'Cats on the scoring run by raining down two 3-point shots.
The hot topic at half time was Defense. The Lady Cats seemed convinced that there was a better way to finish this game and they came out in the third quarter the intent to show that they could shut down the Pirates.
That is exactly what the 'Cats delivered as they went on another commanding offensive run for the first six minutes of the third quarter. This time, the Bearcats held the Pirates scoreless while posting 17-points extending their lead to 60-19. The third quarter ended with the Cats holding a comfortable 70-25 lead.
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The fourth quarter passed quickly as the continuous "mercy" clock was engaged. Both teams were able to add a few additional points to the scoreboard making the final score 81-34. moving the girls season record to 16-1.
The Lady Cats had 5 players in double figures. Alison Jarrell was the top of the scoring column with 15-points on the night. She was followed by Paige Patterson had 12-points, Hannah Noe and Maollie Whitehead each had 11-points and Katelyn Frazier added 10-points.
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Coach Chad Allen was pleased with the Lady Bearcats extra effort after the critical turning point of the game. It was evident that adjustments during timeouts and at halftime prompted the 'Cats to regroup and get more focused on their defensive efforts.
"Coming out, I thought we came out a little flat early on," noted Coach Allen. "We didn't have as much intensity as we have been having in other games."
"Having Brittney out of the line up may have thrown us off a little in the beginning. She is a good defensive player and almost unstoppable inside at the post." added Coach Allen. "But I thought the girls adjusted and did really well, especially the last three quarters.
"Perryville is a good team that is very well coached," explained Allen. "They just aren't that deep and I think we just wore them down in that 3rd quarter."
The varsity will be in action on Saturday at Charleston High School in the Coaches against Cancer classic as they will take on the number 1 ranked team in Class 5 the St. Joseph Academy Angels. Game time is 4:30 p.m.
"It's gonna be a huge test for us and I'm excited we get the opportunity to play St. Joe Academy." said Coach Allen. "They are always a powerhouse team out of St. Louis and we will definitely see where we are at."
"Hopefully we will have Brittney back by then. We will find out Thursday," added Chad. "But even if we have to play without her it will be a great game for us for a great cause. It will definitely prepare us down the road for playoff time."Junior Varsity Action
The JV Lady Cats moved to 6-0 on the season with a 67-17 win over the younger Pirates.
Defense was the name of this game as the Lady Pirates were held scoreless in both the first and third quarter. Dakota Reynolds, MaKayla Waldner, Melanie McKuin and Karoline Keirsey were all in double figures for the young Cats.
Offensively, the JV 'Cats were able to aggressively attack the Pirates defense. Dexter had a hot shooting hand and were able to nail the outside shot. The 'Cats also found that the transition game off of Perryville turnovers helped their scoring column quickly.
Defensively, the Bearcats were very intense and swarmed the basketball. They left little ability for the Lady Pirates to get setup and into their offense.
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