Huge fourth quarer lifts Lady Bulldogs over NMCC

NEW MADRID -- Throughout her high school career, senior guard Amber Minner has always thrived in a leadership role and Thursday night proved to be no exception.

With her Sikeston's back against the wall, Minner stepped up her game, leading the Lady Bulldogs to a 60-47 come-from-behind win.

With only two seconds left in the third quarter, down 41-31, the Bulldogs inbounded the ball from midcourt in hopes to get a last-second shot before heading into the final quarter. The Bulldogs got their shot and more when Minner knocked down a 3-pointer at the top of the key to beat the buzzer.

"Coach just told them to pass it in to me and honestly I just shot it up," said Minner. "And when it went in, everybody knew that that was the turning point. Everybody just knew we could do it if we'd come together, play as a team and fight for it."

It was at that point that all the momentum seemed to come pouring out of New Madrid County Central and flood into Sikeston, allowing the Lady Bulldogs to go on a 26-6 run in the fourth quarter to finish off NMCC.

Sikeston's Amber Minner drives around NMCC's J'Kara Collins Thursday night.

Sikeston's Amber Minner drives around NMCC's J'Kara Collins Thursday night.

"That's one of those that's kind of like a dagger," said NMCC head coach David Crockett. "You work so hard to get the ball but it just happens to get right in her hands (Minner) and she gets it in.

"And hey, she's a player. Minner is not gonna let them lose and she's gonna do everything she can to keep them in the game."

Heading into the fourth quarter, the Lady Bulldogs found themselves still down 41-34 but the game was far from over as the visiting team began to chip away at the seven point deficit.

"We ended up challenging each player individually on the things that they can do really well," said Sikeston head coach Homer Jackson, after a slow start to the game. "There was some constructive criticism and after that they all responded well and I applaud their effort for that.

"We really seemed to define our roles tonight and our girls did a superb job on following those to a 'T'. They all did a good job, never gave up and Amber did an excellent job on leading the team on scoring."

After LaShawna Turner took a steal at half-court all the way for two, the lead was then cut down to 43-40 and that's when the Lady Eagles foul trouble began to catch up with them.

Already in the double bonus at the 4:42 mark in the final period, the Lady Bulldogs would remain at the line shooting two for the rest of the game. That would be exactly where the Lady Eagles didn't want Minner as she connected 4-4 from the line to give her team their first lead of the game at 44-43 since the opening 2-0 basket.

Finally taking control of the lead, the senior guard had no attention of letting it go as she continued to lead the way with 17 fourth quarter points, 9-10 from the line.

"I was just feeling it tonight," said Minner. "I was in the zone so I kept shooting, not only for me but for my team."

Minner finished the game with a season high 33 points with one 3-pointer and 10-12 shooting from the free throw line.

On the rare occasion of a Minner miss, 6-1 sophomore Monika Gray-El was there to clean it up as she too had a big game with 19 points while Turner chipped in with 7.

The Lady Eagles had three players in the double digits in the losing effort. Tameika Williams lead the way for NMCC with 18 points and two 3-pointers. Jasmine Flennoy was steady with 14 points while Shameika Williams got in on the action with 11.

This is the second time this week that the Lady Bulldogs (5-11) have bounced back on the road after a tough home loss. But they will have another tough test this Saturday when they travel to Portageville to take on the Class 3 state ranked Lady Bulldogs at noon. NMCC (7-11) will try to bounce back when they travel to Scott Central to take on the Lady Braves.