Strong third quarter separates Dexter from Lady Mules

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

sports@standard-democrat.com

DEXTER -- After a close first half against Poplar Bluff on Monday, the Dexter Lady Bearcats used a dominant third quarter to pull away from the Lady Mules for a 70-48 win.

"We worked really hard defensively," Dexter head coach Chad Allen said. "I thought we wore them down by how hard we played. We just really want to keep on concentrating on our defense and keep on trying to get our conditioning right to play hard defensively all game long."

A slow start by the Lady Bearcats had the Lady Mules ahead 16-14 entering the second quarter. Dexter outscored Poplar Bluff 17-11 in the second period, however, to take a four-point lead into the break, 31-27.

It was in the third quarter where the Lady Bearcats put up their most dominant performance of the night, outpacing the Lady Mules 23-9 in the frame.

Senior Paige Patterson deserves much of the credit for Dexter' surge as she contributing 10 points during the quarter and finished the night with a game-high 20 points.

"Paige did a great job for us inside tonight," Allen said. "She posted hard, wanted the ball and our guards got her the ball. She does a lot of good things for us.

She can not only score, but she can always kick out for our shooters as well. She's tough in there with her size."

With Patterson's big quarter the Lady Bearcats took an 18-point advantage into the final quarter, 54-36, before closing out the game by outscoring the Lady Mules 16-12.

Behind Patteron's 20 points, 16 of which came in the second half, fellow senior Hannah Noe had 16 points. Erika Cobb and Dakota Reynolds had 13 and 11 points respectively to give Dexter four players in double-figures.

Though senior Allison Jarrell finished the night with only six points, she added a pair of 3-pointers to her already record-breaking season. After breaking her own single-season 3-point record Thursday night, she now has 75 threes on the year.

For Poplar Bluff, Courtney Raultson had a team-high 14 points, including eight in the first quarter while Cassidy Harris pitched in 10 points.

"Coach (Kirk) Chronister coached team he's got a great game plan and I think they did a great job against us tonight," Allen said. "Defensively, I thought they were very aggressive, very active. Our girls did a great job of adjusting that second half and mainly just wearing them down.

"That was the main difference in the game, just wearing them down and we eventually got a lot of steals off our press. Offensively we were much more active in that second half."

With the win Dexter, currently ranked eighth in Class 4, stand at 19-3 on the season. They'll go for their 20th win on the road against Twin Rivers Thursday at 6 p.m.

Dexter14172316-70
Poplar Bluff1611912-48

DEXTER (70) -- Dakota Reynolds 11, Hannah Noe 16, Melanie McKuin 2, Alison Jarrell 6, Erika Cobb 13, Paige Patterson 20, MaKayla Waldner 2. FG 30, FT 5-7, F 13. (3-pointers: Reynolds 1, Noe 1, Jarrell 2, Cobb 1. Fouled out: none.)

POPLAR BLUFF (48) -- Megan Knuckles 2, Lexi Hafford 2, Soley Webb 2, Slaughter 8, Halle Huffman 2, Cassidy Harris 10, Courtney Raulston 14, Katelynn Bratcher 2, Samantha Gatewood 6. FG 21, FT 4-9, F 9. (3-pointers: Raulston 2. Fouled out: none.)

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