Lady 'Dogs fall to Portageville

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston girls basketball team fell to 3-14 on the season with a 61-38 loss to Portageville Saturday afternoon.

Sikeston led 12-11 after one quarter, but Portageville took control of the game from there.

Portageville led 28-22 at the half and put the game away in the second half, out-scoring Sikeston 34-17.

Portageville (14-5) was able to get out on the break and score transition baskets against Sikeston.

"Our conditioning right now is up to par and we just out-ran them in the second half," said Portageville coach Eric Ellerbrook. "I think that's our game-

plan in every game, just out-run everybody. When we have a fastbreak, we push it so we can score as quickly as we can and get back on defense."

With a game-high 17 points, Sikeston's Latoya Gipson once again proved to be the main scoring option for the Lady Bulldogs.

Portageville, on the other hand, placed five different girls in the double-digit scoring column.

Lauren Kellams and Kellye Penn each had 13 points. Hannah Rone had 11 points and Jaleea Drake and Brittney Walker each had 10 points.

"That's always a good thing," said Ellerbrook. "We've had four in double figures, but this is the highest we've had this season. It's just showing that if somebody isn't playing their usual game, other girls are stepping up."

Sikeston continues to be haunted by poor ball-handling and missed shots close the goal.

"We miss too many easy layups," said Sikeston coach Homer Jackson. "If we make those easy layups, we would play more aggressive defense. We made a number of mistakes and I'm not sure what we can do to fix that right now. I think we need to practice with intensity and play like that in a game. It's kind of hard to recreate that unless it's in the players' minds. So mentally, at least we're there, if not physically."

Sikeston got out to the early lead with Gipson and 6-2 freshman Monika Gray-el doing the damage in the paint.

Ellerbrook said adjustments had to be made at halftime to contain Sikeston's post combination.

"It was a tight game in the first half and I think the difference is we adjusted our defense in the second half," said Ellerbrook. "They've got some good posts. That freshman down low is a monster and we couldn't hold her. We had to double-team her because they wanted to iso (isolate) her. We went to a 1-3-1 trap to have backside help."

Gray-el and sophomore Keyarra Blissett each finished with six points for Sikeston.

Sikeston is back in action today with a home game against Twin Rivers at 6 p.m.

Portageville 61, Sikeston 38

(Varsity girls)

Portageville 11 17 17 16 -- 61

Sikeston 12 10 7 9 -- 38

PORTAGEVILLE 61) -- Lauren Kellams 13, Kellye Penn 13, Hannah Rone 11, Jaleea Drake 10, Brittney Walker 10, Talisa Walker 2, Deanna Deere 2. FG 25, FT 11-17, F 8. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none).

SIKESTON (38) -- Latoya Gipson 17, Keyarra Blissett 6, Monika Gray-el 6, Amber Minner 4, Lashawna Turner 3, Andrea Coleman 2. FG 17, FT 4-10, F 14. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none).