Tater's Two Cents - Dec. 20

Welcome to another installment of Tater's Two Cents.

It's that time of year over here at the DAR where we spend more time in Broseley or Bloomfield than we do at home. But it's worth filling up our pages with stories and photos from the girls' Lady Royals Christmas Classic and the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament that starts next week.

- The LRC kicked off this past Saturday at Twin Rivers and it all went to plan as the 1-8 seeds advanced to quarterfinals. The only nail-bitters were viewed by the early bird crowd as the second and third games of the day were very competitive. (8) New Madrid County Central and (9) Kelly took it the distance and then some with a back-and-forth battle that went into overtime with the Lady Eagles overcoming and advancing. The next game was just as entertaining with Ripley County foes (5) Naylor and (12) Doniphan doing battle. The Donettes were upset-minded and for a little while in the third quarter, it looked like it was going to happen as they were up 42-31 after a 13-0 run. Momentum definitely seemed to change when Doniphan until senior Hannah Netherland went down with an ankle injury (she later returned in the fourth quarter). The very experienced Lady Eagles (who lost just two players from last year's Class 1 Final Four run) woke up just in time to tie it by the end of the third quarter and then went on to the win in the fourth.

- The rest of the games at the LRC weren't as competitive on Saturday. (4) Senath got up big on (13) Malden in the following game after Naylor/Doniphan and the Lady Lions never looked back. (3) Dexter controlled the whole game against (14) Greenville but I'm always impressed with just much the Lady Bears can do with just six girls. Lady Bears senior Andrea Becker has to handle everyone's best every night and even under the bright lights of this tournament and against one of the top programs in the area, Becker put in 33 points and her team trailed by 12 at halftime. The final three games of the night were won by (6) Twin Rivers, (7) Sikeston and (2) Kennett by an average of 28.3 points per game.

- Today (Monday) is the winner's bracket quarterfinals that features what should be a couple very good games. Naylor vs. Senath should be a real physical battle pitting two hard-nosed coaches in the Lady Eagles' Gene Deckard and the Lady Lions' Jamie Johnson. Another great matchup tonight should be Dexter and Twin Rivers. The Lady Bearcats are very young but have played a tough schedule this year. The Lady Royals on the other hand have also played a tough schedule to this point but have six seniors, three of which have a boat load of experience on the floor. Although they are teams not from our coverage area, Kennett and Sikeston will be an interesting one night tonight pitting two improving programs under new coaches. Kennett was upset in the quarterfinals last year by Twin Rivers while Sikeston is making its first quarterfinals appearance since 2007.

- In other news last week, it was nice to see the Naylor boys string together a couple wins and bounce back at the Senath-Hornersville Christmas Tournament. The older players on this year's team aren't accustomed to bringing home hardware from tournaments but a consolation trophy could be just a stepping stone to a solid season for the Eagles. Neelyville got revenge on Campbell at Senath as the two teams met for the second year in-a-row. The Tigers had to rally from behind to earn the third place trophy with a huge effort by senior Cody Hanner who had 29 points.

For the rest of this week Brian Rosener and I will be covering the rest of Lady Royals Classic.

We will update the bracket here: http://semoball.com/bracket/1232/

We also will have instant scores if you 'like' our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/DAR-Sports/130404650315731

Look for LRC stories and photos in the print edition every day this week.

The Dec. 26 edition of the DAR will feature a Bloomfield Christmas Tournament preview including a bracket and rosters.

Have great week and a Merry Christmas!