Upset blocked

Lady Bulldogs let No. 2 seed slip through

sd_sports@yahoo.com

BROSELEY -- Taking a six-point lead into the fourth quarter Monday night in the quarterfinals of the 14th Annual Lady Royal Holiday Classic, the seventh-seeded Sikeston Lady Bulldogs saw the second-seeded Kennett Lady Indians pull off a last minute comeback to prevent the upset.

Trailing by one with under a minute, Kennett's Audrey Wynne scored a basket in the paint to put her team up by one before Jerrica Wheeler hit two free throws with 14 seconds left to make it a three-point lead.

Left with one last shot, Sikeston's 3-point attempt would fall just short of the rim before time expired, giving the Lady Indians a 52-49 win.

"We competed our tails off from tip to final buzzer and as a coaching staff we couldn't be prouder." Lady Bulldog's head coach Matt Schonhoff said.

It was a second half rally in the third that put Sikeston in the lead after entering the half trailing by five, 29-24. After opening up on a 5-1 run, the Lady Bulldogs were able to take the lead at 31-30 on a Keyonna Blissett jump shot.

Pushing that lead up to six to start the fourth, Sikeston saw Kennett methodically work their way back in the game until Veronica Amos connected on a jumper and 3-pointer back-to-back to tie the game at 48 with 1:18 left to play.

After Vonteria Applewhite hit one final free throw with just over a minute left to give the Lady Bulldogs a momentary lead, the Lady Indians went on to score the above mentioned four unanswered points to secure the win.

"At halftime we challenged them," Schonhoff said of his girls. "They thought that they were tired, but they weren't. They were a little shook. We shook them back and they answered the bell in the third quarter and all the way until the final minute of the fourth quarter.

"Our defense did the trick. We got layups and we hit some free throws when we needed to. (It was) just one of those games were a thing here, a thing there just didn't go our way right there at the end."

Leading Sikeston, Applewhite and Asia Liggins tied for the team lead with 13 points apiece. Applewhite also had five rebounds and four steals while Liggins had two rebounds and three assists.

Sikeston (4-3) will now play host Twin Rivers in the fifth-place bracket Wed. at 5 p.m.

Kennett 16 13 5 18 - 52

Sikeston 14 10 16 9 - 49

KENNETT (52) -- Alexandria Brown 10, Jerrica Wheeler 9, Audrey Wynne 16, Mackenzie Carr 2, Veronica Amos 15. FG 20, FT 9-12, F 17. (3-pointers: Amos 3. Fouled out: none).

SIKESTON (49) -- Tyangela Gibson 7, Keyonna Blissett 10, Vonteria Applewhite 13, Asia Liggins 13, Janai Ivory 2, Taneshia Pulley 4. FG 20, FT 9-22, F 13. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none).

Dexter 57, Twin Rivers 40

BROSELEY -- Outscoring host and sixth-seed Twin Rivers in the first three quarters of play, the third-seeded Dexter Lady Bearcats advanced to the semifinals of the Lady Royals Holiday Classic with a 57-40 win.

"I thought we did a great job of handling their press." Dexter head coach Chad Allen said. "I thought we got the ball in the middle of the court, looked to attack and got a lot of good looks off of it."

Scoring eight of her team-high 24 points in the first frame, the Lady Bearcats' Brittany Harris help her team get off to a hot start in building a seven-point lead entering the second quarter.

From that point on Dexter would only add to their lead, thanks in part to a 14-9 second quarter, before going into the fourth quarter up a comfortable 18 points.

Though the Lady Royals were able to hold their own in fourth as a pair of three's from Chelsea Crain and Tori Cole helped them outscore the Lady Bearcats 12-11 in the frame, Twin Rivers found themselves with too big a deficit to overcome.

"Defensively I thought we did a decent job in our match-up," Allen said. "Not so much of rotating over and helping on the baseline drive, but overall I thought our girls kept their composure, ended pulling away and did a great job for us tonight."

Dexter will now face off with Kennett in the semifinals Wed. at 8 p.m.

Twin Rivers 8 9 11 12 - 40

Dexter 15 14 17 11 - 57

TWIN RIVERS (40) -- Chelsea Crain 5, Tori Cole 10, Kelsey Snider 18, Alexa Stockton 5, Alix Jones 2. FG 15, FT 8-15, F 11. (3-pointers: Crain 1, Cole 1. Fouled out: none).

DEXTER (57) -- Mollie Whitehead 9, Katelyn Frazier 6, Hannah Noe 4, Alison Jarrell 9, Erika Cobb 2, Brittany Harris 24, Paige Patterson 3. FG 24, FT 7-12, F 16. (3-pointers: Jarrell 2. Fouled out: Frazier).

Neelyville 84, NMCC 38

BROSELEY -- Jumping out to a 25-point lead after the first, the Neelyville Lady Tigers showed why they are the top ranked team with a convincing 84-38 win over the eighth-seeded New Madrid County Central Lady Eagles.

Scoring over half of her team's points, Benesha Childress led the Lady Eagles with 20 points, including 11 in the second quarter alone.

NMCC now plays fourth-seeded Senath in the fifth-place bracket Wed. at 3:30 p.m.

Neelyville 34 22 8 20 - 84

NMCC 9 17 9 3 - 38

NEELYVILLE (84) -- Chelsey Maupin 17, Jessica Uhl 6, Rikki Johnson 2, Jackie Griffin 10, Emily Eaker 2, Brittany McElhaney 18, Kaitlin Morgeson 10, Chelsie Kovach 4, Kayla Maupin 10, Alex Hogan 3, Caela Petty 2. FG 36, FT 10-23, F 16. (3-pointers: Griffin 2. Fouled out: none).

NMCC (38) -- Dallas Campbell 2, Benesha Childress 20, Te'Aundra Southern 4, Porter 5, Kuff 5, Williams 5. FG 17, FT 2-13, F 18. (3-pointers: Childress 1, Porter 1. Fouled out: Johnson).

Naylor 54, Senath 34

BROSELEY -- Setting themselves up for a showdown with Neelyville in the semifinals, the fifth-seeded Naylor Lady Eagles defeated fourth-seeded Senath 54-34 Monday in the quarterfinals.

Naylor dominated the second quarter, outscoring Senath 24-4 to go up 36-11 at halftime.

Leading the Lady Eagles was Katelyn Hughey with 23 points, including 19 in a first half to help her team build a their 25-point lead entering the third.

Naylor 12 24 11 7 - 54

Senath 7 4 11 12 - 34

NAYLOR (54) -- Andrea Sullivan 12, Katelyn Hughey 23, Ericka Engelman 2, Holly Deckard 7, Darby Pruett 4, Mary Edler 2, Kendal Rogers 4. FG 21, FT 6-13, F 12. (3-pointers: Deckard 1, Pruett 1. Fouled out: none).

SENATH (34) -- Reagan Miller 4, Mallory Fritz 13, Shelby Sullivan 1, Natalie Bibbs 2, Seleena Neal 14. FG 14, FT 6-8, F 14. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none).