Dexter knocks Sikeston off SEMO Conference tournament title track with 81-50 win

Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Sikeston's Tyeshia Mitchell (35) is fouled by Dexter's Rylee Allen during a semifinal of the inaugural SEMO Conference Girls Tournament on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016, at Poplar Bluff, Mo. (DAILY AMERICAN REPUBLIC/Brian Rosener)

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- The start wasn't pretty again and some of the same issues from the night before continued to plague the Dexter girls basketball team, but that only delayed the Lady Bearcats' dominance by a few minutes.

Leading by just a point, top-seeded Dexter broke things open with a 13-2 run during the first three minutes of the second quarter and cruised to a 81-50 win over No. 4 Sikeston in the inaugural SEMO Conference Girls Tournament semifinals Tuesday night.

"We were lagging out of the gates again, but after a quick timeout I thought the girls did just a completely better job tonight than they did last night," Dexter coach Chad Allen said. "We were definitely more active than we were the night before, and when you do that you're going to create some turnovers, get the ball up the floor and attack the rim."

The Lady Bearcats (2-2) turned 25 Sikeston turnovers into 30 points, shot 53 percent from the field (31 of 58) and were 11 of 17 from 3-point range.

Dexter junior Hannah Thurman led the way with 23 points on nine field goals and five free throws, while senior Chaylea Mosby added 17 points and was 3 for 5 from behind the arc.

Dexter's rout had to wait, however, as Sikeston (1-2) scored four points in the final 40 seconds of the opening quarter, including a free throw after a technical foul at the buzzer, to help shave the Lady Bearcats' lead to 18-17 after one period.

But the Bulldogs (1-2) never came that close again.

Natalie Sitze kicked off the second with her first 3-pointer of the night followed by Hannah Thurman's layup. Maycie Martin took over the next two minutes, hitting on a jumper in the paint and completed a conventional three-point play before Harley Allen hit her own triple to cap the run.

Larysa Mclellon scored Sikeston's only two points during that stretch with a pair of free throws as the Bulldogs coughed the ball up on five of their first six second-quarter possessions.

Dexter closed out the first half with a 16-8 run and outscored Sikeston 29-10 in the quarter for a 47-27 halftime lead.

"We were much more active with our hands defensively," Allen said. "Last night it was a lot of press and just being in the right place to take a pass away, and tonight it was more of us creating those turnovers."

Dexter's dominance spilled over into the third quarter as Martin splashed home a jumper from the win 13 seconds in. Thurman followed with a layup off a turnover before Mosby hit her first 3 of the game followed by a fast break layup to push the lead to 56-30.

Kiera Steward scored the next five points for Sikeston and Olivia Nash added a layup before Dexter ended the third on a 10-6 spurt led by Martin's three straight points and four more from Rylee Allen.

Stitze, who finished with 12 points, scored six straight to begin the fourth quarter, Thurman had four and Trout added a 3 as the Lady Bearcats maintained a 30-point lead the rest of the way.

Martin also finished with 12 points while Rylee and Harley Allen scored six apiece. Meghan Trout added five off the bench for the Lady Bearcats, who used 11 players in the win.

"The experience that we're getting is just huge," coach Allen said. "You could just tell that their chemistry was so much better tonight than what it was last night.

"We were also just more aggressive and those are things that we talked about and what led to a huge turnaround from the night before."

Dexter will face No. 2 Jackson for the championship at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

Sikeston17101310--50
Dexter18291915--81

SIKESTON (50) -- Kiera Steward 14, Antravia Green 2, Alexis Boyd 2, Larysa McClellon 16, Olivia Nash 2, Zaria Blissett-Hall 2, Tyeshia Mitchell 12. FG 16, FT 9-17, F 15 (3-pointers: Steward 3. Fouled out: None.)

DEXTER (81) -- Maycie Martin 12, Rylee Allen 6, Daphane Ahrens 12, Meghan Trout 5, Hannah Thurman 23, Harley Allen 6, Chaylea Mosby 17. FG 23, FT 11-17, F 16 (3-pointers: Mosby 3, H. Allen 2, Ahrens 2, Trout. Fouled out: None.)

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: