Sports

The tragedy of the death of NBA icon Kobe Bryant Sunday in a helicopter crash north of Los Angeles is a layered one. There is the personal side of his story, in that; he left a wife and three children behind. There is the intellectual side of the story, in that, he was a bi-lingual, global entrepreneur who achieved as much success in a corporate boardroom as he ever did on a basketball court...

The pre-meet seeding led everyone to believe that Jackson would prevail in the SEMO Conference Wrestling Tournament and history indicated that, as well.

CHARLESTON, Mo. — After holding on to a 28-26 lead at halftime, the start of the second half was not how the Charleston girls basketball team had envisioned. Scoring the first points of the third quarter on a basket from senior Ashanti Jones, Charleston, at the time, held a 30-26 lead over No. 7-seed Chaffee in the first round of the Scott-Mississippi County Conference Tournament at Charleston High School on Saturday...

Charleston won the 37th annual City of Metropolis Superman Classic boy's basketball tournament Saturday by beating Massac County 63-49.

BENTON, Mo – Homecoming games don’t get much more exciting than Kelly’s Friday night nail-biter against state-ranked Delta. Sadly for Hawk fans, it was visiting Delta’s bench rushing the court to celebrate after senior Jon Bond’s buzzer-beating put-back allowed the Bobcats to escape with an 81-79 win...

SIKESTON – The Class 3 state-ranked Kennett Indians have posted some notable wins this season, but perhaps none were more gratifying thus far than Friday night’s victory against Sikeston. Sikeston had defeated Kennett 18 straight times dating back to 2004 and was celebrating homecoming night at the Field House, but the Indians marched into town and left with an 82-79 victory to snap the long losing streak and stunning the large Sikeston crowd...

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. — Down three points and time winding down, the Portageville boys basketball team had a pair of chances to tie the game up, against Malden, on Friday. Sophomore Alex Winsor drove into the lane, drew the defense in, and kicked it out to junior Kelan Bills for a three-pointer in the right corner. ...

Scott County (11-2) got a victory at Scott City (7-7) on Thursday.

The Webster Groves Statesman did not have a double-digit scorer, but eked out a 41-34 home victory over the Jackson Indians.

SIKESTON — Scoring is one of Poplar Bluff senior Kiley Bess’ strong suits, and she put her full arsenal on display Thursday night when the Mules visited the Sikeston Field House. The Lady Bulldogs had no answer for the St. Louis University commit, as Bess scored 28 points on 11 of 19 shooting...

Six Semoball boys basketball teams and two Semoball girls basketball teams are ranked in the latest state rankings provided by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association. Delta (14-3), which is unbeaten in the month of January, is ranked No. 8 in the Class 1 boys poll...

Good Sports is a weekly feature appearing in the Southeast Missourian and online at Semoball.com. It profiles the life of a person connected to sports and allows readers the opportunity to know the people who are impacting athletics throughout Southeast Missouri in a deeper way. Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity...

Wearing a Cape Central wrestling sweatshirt, Davion Steele stands out during practice with his Poplar Bluff teammates. “He wears it sometimes,” senior Quinten Bell said. “We’ve got to remind him he’s at PB now.” Steele said he doesn’t mind the attention his Tigers attire might attract...

SEMO CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT Seeds for the upcoming SEMO Conference wrestling tournament at Jackson High School with a wrestlers record, grade and school. Not all wrestlers are seeded and total number of wrestlers varies for each weight class. Pool matches start Friday with a double-elimination tournament continuing Saturday:...

Mistavia Murry almost handled Meridian by herself Wednesday in girl’s basketball action. The Charleston player scored 30 points in helping the Bluejays (9-5) win 68-32. Murray got help from Ashanti Jones, who added 26 in the win. The Bluejays are competing in the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament this week...

The Bobcats held the Hornets to one point in the first quarter and never looked back as they picked up a 63-33 home victory.

SIKESTON – The Sikeston Bulldogs bounced back from a disappointing loss last week at Park Hills Central with a dominating performance against Farmington on Tuesday. Sikeston struggled in the early going, trailing by one after the first quarter, but responded with some of its most prolific offense of the season to roll to an 82-49 win at the Sikeston Field House...

SCOTT CITY, Mo. — There was no defense that the East Prairie boys basketball team could do to stop Scott City from scoring on Tuesday night. Likewise, there was also no defense that the Rams put in front of the Eagles, that allowed them to score, in their 64-30 loss at Scott City High School...

BERNIE, Mo. — Tyson Goodale led Oran in points and rebounds on Monday night against Bernie. However, the senior’s biggest play came on the defensive end, as the Eagles outlasted the Mules in overtime, 47-45. Senior Skyler Schwent had the ball in his hands, and as time was winding down, he tried to pass the ball to the right corner...

The Blue Jays used a 20-9 third quarter to pull away from the Hornets and pick up the home victory.

FENTON, Mo. — Eddie Foster advanced to the third-place match at 113 pounds, over the weekend, at the Route 141 Rumble. Leading up to his bout, Foster secured a pair of pins in his previous three matches. Foster defeated Northwest Cedar Hill’s Kody Kretzer in 28 seconds and defeated Windsor Imperial’s Reilly Baughman in 48 seconds. He fell to Parkway South’s Chyngyz Kalybek in the semifinals, in 2:52...

NEW MADRID, Mo – For the second time in four days, New Madrid County Central hosted a state-ranked SEMO Conference rival. A rough start in both games left the Eagles in a big hole at halftime, but against Cape Central Friday night, a resurgent NMCC squad battled back within a possession entering the fourth quarter...

BENTON, Mo. — Kelly outscored Chaffee by 20 points, 26-6, in the third quarter to push its lead even further on Friday night at Thomas W. Kelly High School. Joel McClain led the charge, scoring nine of his 17 points in the frame. He tied Gavin Jansen for most points on the team as well...

ORAN, Mo. — Oran defeated Kelly 53-36 Thursday night in a Scott-Miss Conference girls basketball matchup but without the services of head coach Ethan Evans. Oran superintendent Adam Friga said Ethan’s absence was a personnel issue, and he could not comment any further...

ADVANCE, Mo. — Another strong night from Scott County Central senior Samantha Coffee lifted the Bravettes to a win over Advance on Thursday. Coffee had 17 points, on 6 of 13 shooting, and seven rebounds, as Scott County Central defeated Advance 46-35, at Advance High School...

ORAN, Mo. — Tied at five at the end of the first quarter, the Oran girls basketball team turned up the heat to end the first half on Thursday night. Oran (9-3, 4-0 Scott County-Mississippi County Conference) went on a 14-0 run to start the second quarter, led by the play of senior Kaylee Payne...

KENNETT, Mo. - The Kennett Indians varsity girls basketball team played from behind until the final second of the third quarter but managed to put together the finish it needed to beat the Charleston Bluejays Thursday afternoon. Caroline Patton, who finished with a team-high 17 points, hit a 2-point basket at the end of the third quarter to give Kennett its first lead at 25-24. The Indians also won the fourth quarter by a bucket as it edged visiting Charleston 36-33...

WINDSOR, Mo. — The Sikeston wrestling team lost all three matches on Wednesday, in a quad match, at Windsor (Imperial). The Bulldogs fell to Jackson 75-6 in their first of three duals. Jacob Leavitt earned the only points for the Bulldogs, winning by forfeit, at 106 pounds...

ORAN, Mo – Anyone expecting a repeat of Kelly’s 30-point loss to Oran from earlier this season when the two teams faced off again Tuesday night was in for quite the surprise. Not only did the Hawks control the first 12 minutes of the contest, but with a minute left in regulation, a clutch three had Kelly knotted up with the state-ranked Eagles...

BENTON — Cape Central earned a dominating 54-30 win at Thomas W. Kelly Monday. The Tigers (9-4, 2-0 Class 4, District 1) were paced by 6-foot sophomore Ella Vogel, who came off the bench to score 16 points, with all but four coming in the second half.

NEW MADRID, Mo. — A game that went Charleston’s way early, as well as late, had its fair share of fireworks on Tuesday night at New Madrid County Central High School. The Bluejays rebounded from an emotional loss to Sikeston on Friday night, with a wire-to-wire victory over NMCC, 66-48...

PARK HILLS, Mo. – Coming off an emotional win over arch-rival Charleston on Friday, the Sikeston Bulldogs could not duplicate that same intensity on Tuesday night at Park Hills Central. Park Hills Central blitzed Sikeston from the outset with phenomenal shooting and rolled to an 87-66 victory at Central High School...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. — Opening up strong, the East Prairie boys basketball team outscored Scott County Central 21-9 in the opening period, en route to a 66-44 win over the Braves on Tuesday night. Harrison Moore led all scorers with 20 points. Jase Aycock and Jack Scruggs each had 11 for the Eagles, while Evan Howell and Hayden Ellis had seven...

PARK HILLS, Mo. — Sikeston wrestlers participated in the Central Rebels Girls Tournament over the weekend at Park Hills Central High School. It was another dominant showing for the Bulldogs Cherei Jones, as she remained undefeated on the season, after picking up three more pins. Jones defeated Ste. Genevieve’s Emma Johns at 1:53, Cape Central’s Tambriya Wilson in 38 seconds, and Blair Oak’s Rylee Robinett in 35 seconds...

Nick Wasilewski’s huge offensive output led the Indians to a 66-42 rout over Riverview Gardens in the Lindbergh Flyer Tournament. The 6-foot-5 junior poured in 29 points as the visitors built a 33-24 cushion by halftime. After the break, the Indians continued to add to their advantage by outscoring the hosts 14-5 during the third period and 19-13 in the final frame for a comfortable 24-point victory. Lane Crowden was also in double figures with 11 points...

SIKESTON — Last Monday, the Sikeston girls basketball team fell to Saxony Lutheran after leading nearly the entire game. Looking for a different outcome, the Lady Bulldogs hosted New Madrid County Central (10-5, 1-2 SEMO Conference) on Monday night, with Sikeston (5-6, 2-0 SEMO Conference) still making it nail-biting down-the-stretch...

HOLCOMB, Mo. - Like most squads, the Holcomb Hornets varsity girls basketball team doesn’t thrive when it has to play from behind. “We’ve put an emphasis on not coming out slow in games because having to play the catchup game is always a struggle for us,” Holcomb coach Alexa Stockton said...

SIKESTON — After falling to Delta in the Delta New Year’s Tournament last Thursday, the two teams met again at Ronnie Cookson Gymnasium at Scott County Central High School on Monday. Samantha Coffee proved to be a problem for the Bravettes, finishing with a monster double-double, in their 52-46 win over the Lady Bobcats...

ORAN — As the Oran boy’s basketball squad was building its 38-18 lead Friday over Meadow Heights, Eagle junior guard Langdon Scheeter was contributing in a number of ways to his team’s success.

The Notre Dame boys basketball dominated host Springfield Catholic from the outset Friday in the second round of the Houlihan's Invitational in Springfield, Missouri, and eventually won 67-58. The Bulldogs (11-4) took a 17-9 lead in the opening quarter, stretched it to 32-20 at the break, and never were threatened in the second half...

SIKESTON – After suffering a disappointing one-point loss to Sikeston in the SEMO Conference Tournament 28 days ago, the Charleston Bluejays were hoping for a little payback on Friday. However, Sikeston once again was ready for the state’s No. 1 ranked Class 3 team as the Bulldogs defeated Charleston 71-63 in front of an energized crowd at a sold-out Sikeston Field House...

NEW MADRID, Mo – So far, New Madrid County Central has made the most of the new year. In their three games since the start of 2020, the Eagles are undefeated, winning each by an average of 21 points. The latest came Friday when NMCC took a 14-point lead into the half against visiting Hayti before pulling away to a 70-50 win...

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. — What looked like a blowout between Portageville and Caruthersville was the exact opposite on Friday night at Portageville High School. After a first half where the Bulldogs only made two field goals, the second half proved to be a much different story, albeit in a 54-47 loss...

It took a while for top-seed Scott County Central to find its offensive rhythm Thursday against No. 2-seed Delta in the New Year's Tournament championship game hosted by the Bobcats. By the time, the Bravettes were clicking they had dug themselves a huge hole to climb out of...

BENTON, Mo. — Kelly’s Alaney Moore scored her 1,000th career point Friday night in a 55-30 win over Advance. Moore finished with a game-high 29 points, including 17 fourth-quarter points as Kelly (7-6) pulled away in the final frame. Allison Owens added 16 for the Lady Hawks while Alandry Below led Advance (7-5) with 12 points...

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. — Three Portageville players reached double-figures in the scoring column on Thursday night against Scott County Central. Kelan Bills’ 12 points led the team, with Brendan Garmon and A.J. Hicks following behind with 11 each, in the Bulldogs 58-39 win over the Braves...

CHARLESTON, Mo. — Sometimes when teams build a hefty lead early, they can tend to let the foot off the gas. For Sikeston, that was not the case on Thursday night against rival Charleston at Charleston High School. After senior Ashanti Jones knocked down a pair of free throws for the game’s first points, the Lady Bulldogs proceeded to go on a 12-0 run that lasted nearly the entire first quarter. With that early lead, Sikeston never looked back and cruised to an 81-30 victory...

SIKESTON — Sikeston senior Emma Drury signed her National Letter of Intent to continue her academic and softball career at Dyersburg State Community College, on Thursday morning, at the Sikeston Field House. Drury finished her senior season with the Lady Bulldogs by hitting .357 with 16 RBIs. She also had an on-base percentage of .493, a slugging percentage of .571, and an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of 1.064...

Second-year Delta girl’s basketball coach David Heeb referred to this year’s squad as “one of the most fun groups that I’ve ever had.”

Tied at 66 in the final minute of overtime, Oak Ridge forced Meadow Heights into four turnovers throughout the remainder of the game, as well as grabbed a pair of offensive boards to pull away for a 72-68 win in the consolation semifinal of the Delta New Year’s Tournament on Tuesday.