34 point first quarter helps Dexter down Lady Bulldogs, 78-50

Dexter's Hannah Noe attempts to tip the ball away from Sikeston's Keyonna Blissett in the third quarter on Thursday night. Dexter won the game 78-50. David Jenkins, Staff

SIKESTON -- It wasn't the start the Sikeston Lady Bulldogs had in mind.

Dexter's Brittany Harris proved to be too much to handle on Thursday night as she led the Lady Bearcats with 19 first quarter points helping Dexter to a 19-point lead after the first eight minutes.

The Lady Bulldogs never recovered and lost 78-50 at the Sikeston Field House.

"Dexter came in extremely focused," Sikeston head coach Matt Schonhoff said. "They hit pretty much every shot that they put up. We had some good instances of half-court defense but, they just shot right over us."

Harris, who scored a game-high 21 points, was blistering inside the paint hitting all but one of her 10 shots in the first quarter.

"We started out the game really trying to get the ball inside to Brittany," Dexter head coach Chad Allen said. "I thought our guards did a great job of feeding her in the post. Brittany is definitely a workhorse.

"I just thought the first quarter, we shot a high percentage and definitely had a good start to the game."

Helping the cause, Alison Jarrell sank two of her six total 3-pointers in the first quarter giving the Lady Bearcats a 34-15 lead.

"With Brittany scoring a lot in the first quarter it opened up the perimeter shots," said Allen. "Late in the first quarter we started knocking down a lot of three's. When your inside game is working good and then you have good shooters on the outside, it makes for a pretty good offense."

Although Harris was held to two points in the second quarter, Dexter outscored the Lady Bulldogs 19-14 to take a 53-29 advantage at halftime.

"(Harris) controlled the paint the first half," Schonhoff said. "We could not stop her. We couldn't find Jarrell in the first half either.

From then on, it was too much to overcome for Sikeston despite having three players in double figures with Asia Liggins leading the way with 17 points. Keyonna Blissett and Tyangela Gibson added 12 and 11 respectively.

"This is a good learning experience for us," Schonhoff said. "Dexter's a good, young team."

Sikeston (3-2) was without the services of both Darqueisheonna Howard and Aleah Little due to injuries.

Both the Lady Bulldogs and Dexter will take part in the Twin Rivers Lady Royals Christmas tournament which begins on Saturday.

DEXTER (78) -- Mollie Whitehead 16, Katelyn Frazier 10, Hannah Noe 1, Alison Jarrell 18, Erika Cobb 6, Brittany Harris 21, Paige Patterson 6. FG 32, FT 6-8, F 14. (3-pointers: Jarrell 6, Cobb 2. Fouled out: none.)

SIKESTON (50) -- Tyangela Gibson 11, Keyonna Blissett 12, Vonteria Applewhite 2, Asia Liggins 17, Anne Dennis 2, Treston Pulley 6. FG 20, FT 9-20, F 7. (3-pointers: Gibson 1. Fouled out: none.