High School Sports

SIKESTON — All of New Madrid County Central’s ingredients for success came together in the second quarter. The top-seeded Eagles beat eighth-seeded Dexter 62-50 in the quarterfinals of the SEMO Conference Boys Basketball Tournament on Tuesday night at the Sikeston Field House...

Final exams don’t start for another week for the students at Southeast Missouri State, however, the Redhawks’ men’s basketball squad is going to face a daunting test sooner, rather than later, when they host Evansville tonight at the Show Me Center at 6:30 p.m.

GREENVILLE — Despite playing most of the game from behind, Doniphan was able to secure an Ozark Foothills Conference win over Greenville with a late run Tuesday evening. The Dons closed with a 10-4 run over the final four minutes to beat the Bears 54-51...

FARMINGTON, Mo. — The Poplar Bluff wrestling team split a dual Tuesday night on the road with the boys losing to host Farmington 42-30 after beating Washington 44-27. Poplar Bluff’s girls earned a 33-6 win over Farmington after losing 24-15 to Washington...

The Bloomfield Wildcats received contributions from up and down their roster in a 72-39 rout of Gideon on Tuesday night at Gideon High School. Nine different Bloomfield players scored with Andrew Francis producing a team-high 14 points. James Barks and Dawson Hill added 10 each. Hill made a team-high three 3-pointers...

SEYMOUR, Mo. — Poplar Bluff’s depth was able to overtake the speed of West Plains on Tuesday as the Mules swim team won by 44 points even with only two event wins. Olivia Kirkman won the butterfly and Poplar Bluff’s 200-yard medley relay opened the meet with a win as the Mules had 13 top-3 finishes to overtake the Zizzers...

SIKESTON, Mo. — Upset-minded Notre Dame led second-seeded Jackson by as many as eight points in the first half, but the Indians tightened things up defensively in the second half to wear the Bulldogs down. The Indians outscored seventh-seeded Notre Dame 34-22 in the second half to pull out a 61-53 win Monday night in the opening round of the SEMO Conference Tournament at Sikeston Field House...

SIKESTON — Cape Central cleaned the glass to wipe the floor against Poplar Bluff Monday night. The bigger Tigers, led by 6-foot-7 junior Cameron Williams, had 18 second-chance points and finished with 21 more rebounds to beat the Mules 62-45 in the quarterfinal of the SEMO Conference Tournament at the Sikeston Field House...

DEXTER — The Dexter Bearcats defense was the star of the game Monday night at the Bearcat Event Center. The Bearcats held New Madrid County Central to two first-half field goals and rolled to a 67-17 SEMO Conference girls basketball victory in their home opener...

Four Scott City players scored in double digits and the Rams cruised to a 73-43 win over Meadow Heights at Chaffee High School to advance to the championship game of the Lady Devil Invitational. Senior Kacie Daigger led Scott City for the second straight night with 19 points. She went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line and hit three 3-point baskets...

The Richland Rebels used a balanced attack to open SCAA play with a 76-45 victory over Bell City on Monday night in a boys basketball game at Bell City High School. Four Richland players scored in double figures. Jaden Pope produced a game-high 21 points, Damon Ivy and Jacob Walley had 19 apiece, and Hunter Sanders added 12...

The Dexter boys’ basketball (2-1) team cruised to a relatively comfortable win against Kennett (2-2) on Monday, Dec. 6, in the play-in game of the Southeastern Missouri Conference Tournament, but coach Chad Allen was far from satisfied. “We definitely came out pretty flat tonight,” Allen said. ...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — The Sikeston freshmen easily dispatched New Madrid County Central 47-8 Monday night. Sikeston stormed to a 16-1 lead after one quarter and never were challenged. Chris Artis had 14 to lead the Bulldogs while Marcus Sanders had 12. SIKESTON (47) — Chris Artis 14, Jamarious Harris 2, LeKereon McCray 2, Marcus Sanders 12, Ladainian Sherrod 3, Malachi Davis 2, Darryl Jordan 6, Trace Sadler 6. FG 18, FT 8-8, F 8. (3-pointers: Sanders 2, Sherrod 1. Fouled out: none)...

Charleston is the team to beat in the 2021 Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament. The Blue Jays were selected as the tournament's top seed during Sunday's selection meeting at Century Casino. "The Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament is one of the really special events in this area," Jon K. Rust, publisher of the Southeast Missourian and co-president of Rust Communications, said. "We are proud to continue our longstanding support of this area tradition."...

GIDEON – Caruthersville fought back from a 16-10 second-quarter deficit with a huge fourth-quarter rally to beat South Pemiscot 60-58 on Friday and win the Bulldog Classic at Gideon High School.

The second-seeded Scott City Rams took care of business early, turning an 11-point first-quarter advantage into a 54-point shellacking against seventh-seeded Puxico on Saturday in the first round of Chaffee's Lady Devil Tournament. Scott City turned up the defense in the second quarter, holding the Indians scoreless while putting up 25 unanswered points en route to a 70-16 win...

GIDEON – Kennett got an incredible offensive performance from senior Ben McMullan on Friday to get past Senath-Hornersville 65-61 in the third-place game of the Bulldog Classic at Gideon High School.

GIDEON – Cooter opened its boy’s basketball game against Gideon on Friday by exploding for 44 points in the first half en route to an 81-59 throttling of host Gideon in the consolation championship game of the Bulldog Classic.

MANCHESTER, Mo. — Gatlin Taylor, Lucas Robertson and Zoe Freeman earned individual championships Saturday as the Poplar Bluff wrestling teams opened their season in a tournament at Parkway South. The Mules finished second as a team behind Northwest 191-169 while Poplar Bluff’s girls finished ninth...

LADUE, Mo. — Poplar Bluff swimmers each seven top-10 finishes while divers Abagail Prewitt and Lily Wilson each finished fourth and sixth as the Mules placed sixth at the Ladue Invitational on Saturday. Olivia Kirkman finished fifth in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events while swimming a leg on two relays with Addison Kirkman, Kacey Gregory and Keona Sample that placed...

MISSOURI MEDIA RANKINGS A look at rankings from a 10-member panel of media members from around the state with current record, points based on votes with first place votes in parentheses and previous ranking. CLASS 6 Also receiving votes: SLUH (7-4) 13...

The Sikeston freshman basketball team rolled to a 72-41 road win over Cape Central Friday. Sikeston led 25-20 at half at outscored Cape Central 47-21 in the second half. SIKESTON (72) — C. Artis 19, J. Harris 2, L. McCray 23, M. Sanders 4, L. Sherrod 3, M. Davis 5, D. Jordan 4, T. Sadler 12. FG 25, FT 18-32, F 16. (3-pointers: Artis 3, Sherrod 1. Fouled out: none)...

Cole Nichols produced his second-straight 30-point game, and Truman Krapf made six 3-pointers in the Dexter Bearcats’ 73-57 victory over Malden on Friday night at Malden High School. Nichols scored 30 points three days after scoring 31 against Charleston. He scored nine points in the first quarter, as the Bearcats took an 18-15 lead. He scored 19 in the second where they began to pull away. He went 11 of 15 from the free-throw line, including 9 for 9 in the fourth quarter...

DeSOTO, Mo. — After not allowing a point over the final four-plus minutes the previous night, the Poplar Bluff boys basketball team picked up where they left off Saturday in the championship game of of the seventh annual Fountain City Classic. The Mules didn’t allow a field goal over the opening 6 minutes, 42 seconds to build a 10-1 lead. It never got closer than four the rest of the way as Poplar Bluff beat top-seeded University City 59-43 at DeSoto High School...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. — After trailing a majority of the game, Meadow Heights overcame host Woodland late to win its first Woodland Invitational Tournament championship since 2017. The Panthers took the lead with two minutes remaining in the game off a Will Green 3-pointer and Meadow Heights went 10-for-13 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to upset the top-seeded Cardinals 60-56 on Friday at Woodland High School...

DE SOTO, Mo. – On the heels of a physical, tough loss to Poplar Bluff that lasted late into the night on Friday, the Sikeston Bulldogs had to crank it right back up on Saturday afternoon against North County in the Seventh Annual Fountain City Classic at De Soto High School...

JACKSON, Mo. — It was a tale of two halves according to Jackson coach Darrin Scott, whose team struggled in the first half of its season-opening matchup against Fort Zumwalt North. The second half proved to be the deciding factor, as Jackson pulled away late to beat the preseason top-10 ranked Panthers 58-44 at Jackson High School...

BERNIE — Junior Tristan Johnson provided the spark the top-seeded Bernie Mules needed in the championship game of the Bernie Invitational boys basketball tournament on Friday night. Johnson scored 12 of his game-high 35 points in the pivotal third quarter, leading top-seeded Bernie to an 89-68 victory over sixth-seeded Puxico...

ORAN — The third time was the charm for the Kelly Hawks. After making it to the championship game three straight years, the Kelly Hawks won their first Oran Invitational Tournament since 1998, defeating Advance 62-54 in front of a packed house Friday night...

BERNIE — The fifth-seeded Bloomfield Wildcats were ready to celebrate a win in the third-place game of the Bernie Invitational boys basketball tournament on Friday night. With 1.5 seconds left in the game, second-seeded Holcomb inbounded the ball from under the Wildcats’ goal, launching it from one end to the other. Bloomfield’s Christian Hartlein swatted the ball toward midcourt...

DeSOTO, Mo. — Poplar Bluff and Sikeston got an early look at each other Friday night during seventh annual Fountain City Classic. The SEMO Conference rivals squared off in a semifinal that featured 14 lead changes, five ties before an 11-0 run to end the game...

HAYTI – The Hayti girl’s basketball squad has six seniors on its roster, while Campbell, conversely, has seven players. Total. And no seniors.

Meadow Heights coach Corey Brownsberger knew if his team allowed the Leopold duo of Caleb Schaab and Mason Deck to have the output the two scorers had against Delta in the first round, the Panthers would be playing for third place today. Brownsberger’s defense didn’t allow that to happen on Thursday as the Panthers proved to meet the challenge, holding the Wildcat duo to a combined 23 points as Meadow Heights beat Leopold 52-43 to advance to the Woodland Invitational Tournament’s championship game against host Woodland today.. ...

BERNIE — Through two rounds of the Bernie Invitational boys basketball tournament, Puxico may have become known as “Upset City.” After upsetting third-seeded Twin Rivers in the first round, sixth-seeded Puxico (2-0) knocked off second-seeded Holcomb 63-58 Thursday night in the semifinals, setting up a showdown against top-seeded Bernie (2-0) in the championship game at 8:30 p.m. Friday...

JACKSON, Mo. — Lexi Rubel recorded her first double-double of the season, taking over late in the game to help Notre Dame win its third consecutive SEMO Conference Tournament championship against Jackson. The Indians were resilient, fighting to the bitter end as Katie Waller hit a 3 to bring Jackson within one point, only for the buzzer to go off giving Notre Dame a 50-49 victory on Thursday at Jackson High School...

HAYTI – Just three days after falling to Portageville by a 58-28 margin to open the Al Jackson Classic at Hayti, the Caruthersville girl’s basketball team fought back on Thursday to battle the Bulldogs much tougher in the third-place game, before falling 67-50.

VAN BUREN — The Ellington Whippets won the Lady Dawg Classic on Thursday as they have now started their 2021-22 season with a perfect 3-0 record. They defeated Liberty by a score of 68-52 in order to secure the title. “It means a lot for us to win this tournament this year,” Ellington coach David Burrows said. “We were beat out last year so it’s nice to come back and win it. It definitely prepares us for the rest of the season.”...

Scott City senior guard Kaice Daigger had a huge third quarter where she scored 14 of her game-high 30 points, and the Rams destroyed Charleston 75-21 on the road Thursday. Daigger made six 2-point baskets in the third quarter and drilled 8-of-13 free-throw attempts in the game, often fouled by making a move toward the basket by Blue Jays defenders who were never able to stay with the quick and shifty guard...

Wyatt Williams scored 23 points to lead East Prairie to a 56-54 victory over Clarkton on Thursday. The Eagles tied the game at the end of the first period and fell behind the Reindeer by eight points at the half. East Prairie began to make its comeback by the end of the third period, trailing by one. The Eagles out-scored Clarkton by three in the final quarter...

JACKSON, Mo. — The Sikeston girls basketball team bounced back against Dexter, after suffering a tough loss from the Jackson Indians Wednesday. The Lady Bulldogs never fell behind as they fought for the third place spot in this year’s SEMO Conference Tournament, defeating the Bearcats 66-42. ...

ORAN, Mo. — Early on it looked like Advance was going to cruise into the championship game of the Oran Invitational Tournament. Oran had other ideas, forcing the Hornets to hold off the host squad 57-48 in a semifinal game Thursday night. Advance was primed from the tip, racing out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter before Oran’s Kolten Payne stopped the bleeding with a put back on an offensive rebound with two minutes left in the frame...

JACKSON, Mo. — The Jackson Indians stormed out to a 15-point halftime lead on Wednesday night against Sikeston. But the Bulldogs wouldn't go down without a fight. Sikeston stormed back with a vengence in the third quarter, and kept Jackson on its heels in the fourth...

JACKSON, Mo. — Any nerves Notre Dame may have been feeling in its first-round game of the SEMO Conference Tournament were non-existent on Wednesday night. The Bulldogs came out focused against Dexter, outscoring the Bearcats 38-7 in the first half en route to a 56-19 victory at Jackson High School...

HAYTI – First-year Caruthersville High School girl’s basketball coach Cory Grooms may want to watch the famed prep basketball movie “Hoosiers” in order to prepare herself for the 2021-22 season.

HAYTI – Portageville got strong first quarters from senior Akiyah Jordan and sophomore Laney Stone to beat South Pemiscot 62-30 in the consolation bracket of the Al Jackson Classic at Hayti on Wednesday.

One day removed from losing a nail-biter to Dexter in the opening round of the SEMO Conference Tournament, Cape Central edged Saxony Lutheran 43-35 on Wednesday to advance to Thursday's consolation title game. Despite only shooting 50% from the charity stripe (8-16) in the game, Cape Central managed to outscore Saxony Lutheran in every quarter, maintaining a 14-8 lead at halftime, then turning on the offense in the final period, doubling up the Crusaders 24-12...

St. Vincent led Herculaneum 27-20 at halftime but the Indians couldn’t hold the lead in the second half, giving way to a Blackcats comeback en route to a 48-44 loss in the semifinals of the Rolla “Duke” Herbert Tournament on Wednesday at Crystal City...

Girls Swimming Roundup, Dec. 1: Cape Central tops Jackson in season-opening head-to-head meet. Cape Central earned some bragging rights over Jackson in the season-opening meet for both teams, as the Tigers pulled away from the Indians for a 118-58 team win Tuesday...

CHARLESTON — The Charleston Bluejays dialed up intense, full-court pressure in the third quarter and didn’t let up in a 92-63 victory over Dexter. The Bluejays built double-digit leads twice in the first half, but Dexter came back each time in the SEMO Conference boys basketball matchup Tuesday at Charleston High School...

JACKSON, Mo. — Notre Dame blew past Saxony Lutheran in the opening round of the SEMO Conference Tournament, outscoring the Crusaders 38-9 in the first half. Saxony fared better in the second half, but the damage had already been done as Notre Dame picked up a 50-28 win Tuesday to open its season at Jackson High School...