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Lady Bearcats hand Park Hills first loss 77-58
DEXTER -- Coming off a disappointing road loss to Dyersberg, Tenn., this past weekend, the Dexter Lady Bearcats got back to their winning ways Monday against previously undefeated Park Hills Central.
Led by senior Hannah Noe's 20 points, the Lady Bearcats, ranked second in state, took a 10-point lead into the break before pulling away to a 77-58 final to capture their 13th win of the season.
"It seemed like we came out flat," Dexter head coach Chad Allen said. "We didn't have a lot of energy and we struggled a little bit offensively and defensively. I think that Dyersberg game on Saturday really took it out of us. It was a real physical game and I think we were beat up a little bit and our energy level was down a little bit because of it. That definitely factored into it, but Park Hills is a good team and they're much improved from last year."
After matching each other shot-for-shot for the first 10 minutes of the contest, the Lady Bearcats (13-2) used a couple empty Lady Rebel possessions to string together a 7-0 run midway through the second quarter. This allowed Dexter to grab it's biggest lead yet, 32-23, with 4:19 left in the half.
A 3-pointer by Alison Jarrell and a couple free throws by Dakota Reynolds pushed the Lady Bearcats ahead by 12 points in the closing minute of the first half. It was Park Hills' Sydney Skaggs sinking her free throws with two seconds remaining that closed her team back within 10, 45-35, entering the locker room.
Erika Cobb opened up the second half with back-to-back baskets to start on of the Lady Bearcats' most dominant runs of the night. Jarrell followed suit with two-straight 3-pointers from the left corner before a pair of Hannah Noe free throws capped a 12-2 run in first two minutes of the third quarter.
"Coming out in the third quarter we made the extra pass and that's one thing we weren't doing offensively the first half," Allen said. "We would just come down and throw something up real quick (in the first half). Coming out in that third quarter we made the extra pass and got a good shot out of it and then defensively we were a little more active.
"(However) in the overall scheme of things it just didn't seem like we had much energy and just played flat today."
With Noe's trip to the charity stripe the Lady Bearcats took a 20-point lead, their biggest of the game, before Park Hills (12-1) attempted one last comeback.
The Lady Rebels answered with a 13-4 rally that had them back within 11 points with seven seconds left in the period. It was Noe hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer that stretched her team's advantage back to 14, at 64-50, entering the fourth. From that point on Dexter maintained control, holding the Lady Rebels to only a pair of field goals in the first six minutes of the quarter. That allowed the Lady Bearcats to rebuild their 20-point lead, 74-54, heading into the final two minutes of the game.
"We played well offensively, but defensively we didn't guard shooters very well," Park Hill's head coach Josh Mapes said. "We got a little tired down there the last few minutes of the second half and it led to some easy shots for them. They're a good team and they make their shots."
The Lady Rebels were led by Sydney Skaggs' game-high 21-points. Though she had only five buckets in the game, she went 11 of 15 at the charity stripe and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Megan Skaggs and MacKenzie Jones contributed 14 and 11 points respectively with Megan Skaggs also collecting six rebounds.
Park Hills shot 21 of 25 (84 percent) from the foul line and 19 of 47 (40 percent) from the field.
For Dexter, Noe's 20 points came in the first three quarters, including 18 in the second and third periods combined. She shot 71 percent from inside the arc and 44 percent overall while adding four assists and a pair of rebounds to her effort. Cobb and Patterson added 18 points each to the Lady Bearcats' cause, with Patterson scoring 10 points in the first quarter alone. Patterson had nine rebounds to Cobb's seven. Jarrell scored all of her 15 points from behind the arc on a night where the Lady Bearcats hit nine 3-pointers to Park Hills' one. She shot 63 percent behind the arc and 56 percent overall.
Dexter shot a combined 30 of 62 (48 percent) from the floor while hitting on 9 of 20 shots (45 percent) from 3-point range. They went 8 of 11 (72.7 percent) from the free throw line.
| Park Hills | 17 | 18 | 16 | 8 | -- | 58 |
| Dexter | 21 | 24 | 19 | 13 | -- | 77 |
PARK HILLS (58) -- Peyton Caldwell 2, MacKenzie Jones 11, Sydney Skaggs 21, Megan Skaggs 14, Jensen Uding 4, Abigail Fischbeck 4, Olivia Casey
2. FG 18, FT 21-25, F 13. (3-pointers: Jones 1. Fouled out: none.)
DEXTER (77) -- Dakota Reynolds 4, Hannah Noe 20, Melanie McKuin 2, Alsion Jarrell 15, Erika Cob 18, Paige Patterson 18. FG 30, FT 8-11, F 16. (3-pointers: Jarrell 5, Noe 2, Cobb 1, Patterson 1. Fouled out: none.)