Lady Bulldogs advance in Bootheel Conference

The Portageville Lady Bulldogs began play Monday night in the Bootheel Conference Tournament in Hayti. They defeated Caruthersville, 25-14 and 25-6. "Our girls took care of business and came to play,"said head coach Barry Branscum. Portageville advances to the semi-finals Wednesday night.

"Last Thursday night, the varsity team won the regular season Bootheel Conference Championship by finishing 7-0 in conference play after a three set thriller against Holcomb," he said.

"The match was one of extremes in the first two sets with Holcomb winning the first set by a score of 25-15. We came back and won the second set 25-14. We won the third set 27-25 in a thriller. Both teams played very hard and I am real proud of how our team responded after losing the first set by a large margin."

"Our team has always shown a lot of heart and they have been in a lot of tough situations in the past which I think really helped us when we gave up a 10 point lead in the third set. We never really looked rattled and I think our experience helped. I also think we have a great home court crowd that really gets our team fired up and keeps us up even when we aren't playing our best," he said.

Tournament action began 4 pm Monday with Portageville having the first seed.

Other varsity seedings and Monday night action is as follows:

1. Portageville vs. 8. Caruthersville, Portageville won in two sets.

2. Malden vs. 7. Senath, Malden won in two sets.

3. Holcomb vs. 6. Hayti, Hayti won in three sets.

4. Campbell vs. 5. S. Pem, Campbell won in two sets.

This sets up the semifinal action for Wednesday as follows.

(1) Portageville vs. (4) Campbell at 5:30 PM, and (2) Malden vs. (6) Hayti at 8:30 PM

The Junior Varsity seeding is as follows:

Action began Tuesday night at 4 pm in Hayti

Senath is to play Caruthersville Wednesday at 4:00, and Malden JV is to lay South Pemiscot Wednesday at 7:30

1. Malden vs. 8. Portageville

2. Senath vs. 7. Campbell

3. Caruthersville vs. 6. Holcomb

4. Hayti vs. 5. S. Pem

The last home game is Thursday, Oct. 16 against Gideon. The seniors will be recognized.

their season record is 23-3-1, and ranked 39 in the state.