Jessica Snider, SMT Writer
Dexter, Missouri - Yesterday afternoon the Dexter Lady Bearcat Basketball Team hit the road to Jackson, Missouri to take on a private school, the Saxony Lutheran Crusaders. With both teams being highly ranked, coaches and players knew it was a competition not to be taken lightly.
Like every game, the Dexter Lady Bearcats take on the court determined and ready to win. No matter the competitor, their hard work shines through during the game.
In last night's regular season game against the Crusadors, the Bearcats handled it like they would any other game. Everyone knew it wouldn't be an easy victory to walk away with, but with the Dexter fans filing in the gym, the Bearcats knew they were highly supported.
In last night's match-up, many Bearcats were included as they worked hard to get the victory. The Lady Bearcats were not fearful of their competitor as they played great defense and offense for all four quarters.
Senior Brittany Harris came out very strong last night for the Lady Bearcats and walked away as the leading scorer on the team. Harris delivered 22 points for her team in last night's competition. Alison Jarrell also came out offensively strong as she contributed 14 points to the scoreboard last night.
After being up by ten at halftime, the Lady Bearcats came out in the third quarter and continued playing their same game. They kept a lead over the Crusaders and ended up taking the victory 61-52.
Congratulations to the Dexter Lady Bearcats on their victory over the Saxony Lutheran Crusaders!
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer
"Bernie has a very good JV team. Coach Long does a great job with them and they came prepared," commented Coach Shawn Guethle of the Dexter Bearcats.
Guethle stated, "The Bernie pressure defense really frustrated us at times and we let them make a few runs."
Dexter had two JV players in double digits. Ethan Flowers #24 led the Bearcats with 13 points and Cole Renken #33 had 12 points in the game.
"Overall I thought we did a better job finding Caleb Ellenburg (#11 Mule) tonight unlike when we played at Bernie a few weeks ago, but he is a great player and finds ways to get involved." Bernie's Caleb Ellenburg seemed quite unstoppable with 24 points in the game.
"I was also proud that we kept plugging away and were able to close the gap a little in the second half. We play a lot of freshman on the JV team and this was by far the biggest atmosphere they have ever played in so I think it was a good learning experience for us." said Guethle.
Final Score Dexter Bearcats 46 Bernie Mules 53
Bearcats: Blake Horton 4, Austin Aldridge 6, Noah Kronk 4, Austin Chesser 2, Jacob Pediog 5, Ethan Flowers 13, Cole Renken 12.
Mules:Austin Beck 7, Matt Vernon 10, Caleb Ellenburg 24, Brandon Sparks 6, Devin Tramell 6.
The JV Bearcats will be back in action tonight, January 29th at the Bearcat Event Center. Game time 6:00 p.m. This is a make-up game with Puxico as it was cancelled due to bad weather a couple of weeks ago.
Written by
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer
Dexter, Missouri – The Dexter Varsity Wrestling Bearcats traveled back to Priory High School in St Louis, Missouri to defend their 1st place finish from a year ago.
The Bearcats started off strong and held a commanding 50-point lead after the first three rounds over host Priory and Winfield rounding out the top 3 teams in the field of eight.
Our wrestlers continued their strong showing in the fourth round heading into the final round with a comfortable lead, but the final round was a different story.
“In the final round we lost some matches that we were winning due to getting out of position and silly mistakes,” stated Coach Sneed.
“You can’t be making mistakes like this as we prepare for the final week of the season and Districts being right around the corner,” Coach continued to explain.
Dexter held on to win for the second consecutive year finishing with 334 points, Winfield 307 and host Priory finishing with 290 points.
Thirteen of Dexter’s fourteen wrestlers placed in the top four with Jr. Trevor Waldner, now 38-2 on the season winning the 132 lb bracket. Congratulations to Trevor!
The Bearcats will be back in action this Tuesday evening, January 29th as they host a triad with NMCC and Sikeston starting at 5:00 p.m.
This will be Senior Night for the Dexter Bearcat Wrestlers, as they will be honored before the matches begin. This will be a perfect opportunity to watch an extraordinary wrestling team if you have not had the chance. They are about to end their season soon with State Championships just around the corner! Good Luck Bearcat Wrestlers!
Submitted by
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer
Charleston, MO - The Dexter Lady Bearcats played in the "Coaches Against Cancer" Shootout on Saturday afternoon at Charleston High School. They took on the St. Joseph Academy Angels who are currently ranked number 2 in class 5 in the state of Missouri.
The Lady Cats got off to a great start with a 3 point basket by Allison Jarrell, an old fashion 3-point play by Paige Patterson, and an acrobatic basket by Brittany Harris to take a quick 8-0 lead.
The Angels went to their "bread and butter" 6' 3" Sydney Stipanovich the next few time down the floor to cut the Dexter lead to just two points. Hannah Noe and Erica Cobb made a three each to increase the lead back to 8 before Erin Nelson scored 5 of her game high 21 to cut into the Dexter advantage. After a Mollie Whitehead basket and some scores by St. Joseph Academy, the first quarter ended at 18-15 Dexter.
The Lady Cats increased their lead at the half to 6 on baskets by Harris, Melanie McKuin, Erica Cobb, Katelynn Frazier (on a nifty drive) and a three by Noe. Whitehead added two free throws to make the half-time margin 31-25.
Not happy about the deficit the St. Joseph Academy Ladies increased the defensive intensity to start the third quarter. The Lady Cats were only able to get a basket from Frazier, while the Angels scored 8 to tie the game at 33. St. Joe took their first lead on a basket by Susie Schmark but Erica Cobb came right back with a 3 to give the lead back to Dexter. The rest of the quarter was a 'see-saw" affair with the Angels able to take a 42-41 lead into the final period.
Brittany Harris opened the quarter to give the Cats a one point lead, which was the last lead the girls enjoyed. A number of times the Angels lead dropped to only one point, but the Dexter Bearcats could not get the shot to fall in order to take the lead back.
St. Josepeh's Angels made free throws down the stretch and finished 13 of 15 from the charity strip. With the final free throws the Lady Cats were handed their second loss of the season 55-50.
Dexter will be back in action on Tuesday evening, January 29th as they travel to Jackson to take on the #5 ranked Saxony Lutheran Crusaders.
Game time is 6 p.m. for the JV Lady Cats with the varsity game to follow.
St. Louis, Missouri - Katelyn Heil, a graduate from Dexter High School and current student and basketball player at S&T in Rolla, played a big part in the S&T Lady Miners’ victory over the Tritons of Missouri-St. Louis. Although the game contained many struggles from both sides of the court, the Lady Miners took the win on Thursday with a seven point lead.
During the game against the Tritons, Heil helped her team create a gap between their opponents, sinking a two-pointer. The Tritons retaliated by taking six shots in a row, allowing them to take the lead for the first time during the game. The game continued to flip-flop between the teams. Although the players tried hard to gather points, it was difficult because the teams felt like they had met their match.
Neither team could hold a lead larger than three points until Katelyn Heil brought up the Lady Miners’ dangling lead by hitting two free throws. The Lady Miners had finally created a five-point lead that allowed the players to relax the slightest bit.
The lead was severed when the Tritons easily made a shot, keeping the Lady Miners in the lead but diminishing the point-gap between the two. The Lady Miners were taken by surprise when a player on the opposite team dropped two free throws in the fourth quarter, making the score 51-49. The Lady Miners kept their lead going, bringing it back to the four-point-gap they held earlier in the quarter.
The score was 55-51 with only twenty-five seconds left on the clock until the game officially ended. The Lady Miners missed a shot, allowing the Tritons to snatch the rebound. Luckily, the players missed their chance to catch up to S&T by missing the attempted layup.
The Lady Miners grabbed the rebound and was fouled. They were able to make one out of the two free throws and had finally reached a five-point lead after the constant struggle of the past four quarters. With single digits left on the clock, the Tritons accidentally allowed the ball to get in hands of the Lady Miners. In fact, the ball ended up with Heil, where she ended up sinking two shots, with the last shot landing on the buzzer, allowing her team to take the victory with a final score of 58 to 51.
In their Thursday game, the Lady Miners made 11 out of the 31 shots that they made during the first quarter while the Tritons only made 7 out of 28 attempts. Eight points was the largest lead held during the game, which was achieved by Heil. Heil was also the second highest scorer of the game with nine points, following behind her teammate who had scored eleven. The Lady Miners only shot 19 out of 48 shots during the second half but made 68% of the free throws at the charity stripe.
Dexter’s very own Katelyn Heil helped the Lady Miners win their third game in a row. Sadly, the team lost their latest game against Maryville University on Saturday but the team is hoping to regain their winning streak as they prepare to play against Rockhurst Hawks this Thursday on January 31st, in Kansas City.
The residents of Dexter are very proud of Heil as she continues her love for the game of basketball for the fourth year in a row at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Heil has played sixteen games this far into the season and has continued to prove herself as a strong player. We are looking forward to the upcoming games that the Heil will be participating in as she continues to play strong offense for the Lady Miners for the fourth year in a row.
