Semoball

HIGHER SEEDS ROLL: Top four teams advance to LRCC semifinals

Dexter’s Caitlin Giles, second from left, puts up a shot in traffic against Kennett defenders during quarterfinal action Monday at the Lady Royals Christmas Classic in Broseley.
DAR/Alicea Little

BROSELEY — It was a good evening to be one of the top four seeds at the Lady Royals Christmas Classic.

The top four seeds — Doniphan, Dexter, East Carter and Neelyville, respectively — all won their quarterfinal matchups by more than 20 points on average, with the closest game being a 59-43 win by No. 3 East Carter over 11th-seeded Holcomb.

In other quarterfinal action, top-seeded Doniphan downed Portageville 63-38, while No. 4 Neelyville downed Piggott, Ark. 64-47 and second-seeded Dexter rolled past Kennett 50-26.

East Carter and Dexter will meet in one semifinal Tuesday evening, while thae other will feature Doniphan and Neelyville. In the fifth-place semifinals beforehand, Portageville will take on Piggott, while Kennett and Holcomb will play in a matchup of Dunklin County schools.

East Carter 59, Holcomb 43

In Monday's late game, the Lady Redbirds used a 17-8 second-quarter advantage to turn a close game into an 11-point halftime edge on the way to a semifinal berth.

East Carter led just 16-14 after the opening period, but pushed its lead to 33-22 by halftime and led 53-35 by the start of the fourth quarter.

Breanna Dohlman led all scorers with 24 points for the Lady Redbirds.

Kaetlyn Danley led Holcomb with 13 points, while Libbey Callis added 11.

Neelyville 64, Piggott, Ark. 47

The fourth-seeded Lady Tigers got 30 points from Parker Ernst and jumped out to a 20-7 first-quarter lead to control the game the rest of the way and earn a matchup with conference rival Doniphan in the semis.

Neelyville led 33-18 at halftime and 45-26 going to the final period.

Layni Dobbins added 17 points for the Lady Tigers.

Grace Hooten led Piggott with 24 points.

Doniphan 63, Portageville 38

What was a close game after the opening period ended up being a blowout win for the Donettes by game's end.

Doniphan led 15-12 after the first quarter, but outscored Portageville 17-6 in the second period to take a 32-18 lead at halftime. The Donettes led 47-27 by the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Kenzie Redus led Doniphan with 22 points, while McKenna Monaghan added 13 and Gracen Kirby finished with 10.

JaNiya Smith paced Portageville with 12 points.

Dexter 50, Kennett 26

The second-seeded Lady Bearcats steadily pulled away after taking a 9-4 lead at the end of the first quarter and won going away to move on.

Dexter led 22-12 at halftime and 36-18 going to the fourth quarter.

Kate Nichols led the Lady Bearcats with 24 points.

Consolation games

The 13th-seeded Greenville Lady Bears used a dominant performance in the fourth quarter to turn an eight-point deficit into a 46-41 win over the No. 12 Naylor Lady Eagles in consolation play at the Lady Royals Christmas Classic Monday.

Greenville will play Kelly in one of Tuesday's two consolation semifinals. Kelly, the LRCC's ninth seed, used a fourth-quarter rally of its own to dispatch No. 16 Hayti in another consolation matchup Monday.

In other consolation action, Cape Central dispatched Malden 39-25 and host Twin Rivers eliminated Doniphan's junior varsity squad 48-20. Twin Rivers and Cape Central will meet in Tuesday's other consolation semifinal.

Naylor took a 34-26 lead to the fourth quarter, but the Lady Bears got a strong performance from Matti Looney, who scored 10 of her game-high 20 points in the period to lead the comeback. The Lady Bears also went 9-for-13 from the foul line in the fourth to seal the comeback.

Brianna Despain and Ashlyn West each added 10 points for Greenville.

Haley Sullivan led the Lady Eagles with 15 points, while Zoey Sprous added 12 and Chloe Mitchell finished with nine.

Twin Rivers 48, Doniphan JV 20

In the final consolation matchup Monday, the host Lady Royals jumped out to a 22-point halftime lead to stay alive in their own tournament.

Twin Rivers led the junior varsity Donettes 10-4 after the first quarter and extended its lead to 28-6 by halftime.

Amelia Douglas led the Lady Royals with 14 points, while Hannah Bader added nine.'

Macye Maness led Doniphan's jayvee team with eight points.

Cape Central 39, Malden 25

The Malden Lady Wave led by seven points (19-12) at halftime, but could not hold off the Lady Tigers of Cape Central after the intermission. Cape Central outscored the Lady Wave 27-6 in the second half, limiting Malden to just two field goals in the final 16 minutes.

Ki Bogan paced the Lady Tigers with 17 points, 11 of them after halftime.

Jada Townsend led Malden with seven points.

Kelly 47, Hayti 39

In Monday's firs consolation game, the Lady Hawks dominated the fourth quarter to stay alive at the tournament and eliminate Hayti.

Kelly trailed the Lady Indians 37-30 entering the final period, but outscored Hayti 17-2 in the fourth to complete an improbable comeback.

Jada Griggs led the Lady Hawks with 20 points, while Kayleigh Holman added 11 — seven in the final period — and Krista Grogan finished with 10.

Carmen Rhines paced Hayti with 14 points.

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