Lady Bearcats fall at home

Jerry Jarrell photo Dexter's Abbie Warren (right) runs into Lady Mule Marissa Webb during action Monday night at Dexter. [Click to enlarge]

Senior guards Dennisha Rice and Ruthie Johnson combined for 33 points and controlled the game with their ball handling, passing and defense. Both players knocked down two 3-pointers on the night while Rice finished with 17 points and Johnson 16.

Poplar Bluff coach Kirk Chronister knew coming in that his team held the edge at the guard position, and his smallish pair of front-court players were instrumental in two big runs made by the Lady Mules that put the game away.

"Yes it was," Chronister answered when asked if it was his strategy to turn his guard loose on Dexter's freshman and sophomore starting guards. "That was definitely an advantage that we felt we had and we wanted to try and put as much pressure on them as we could. And they (Dexter's guards) handled it I thought well. There guards handled our pressure well.

"I think there we had two big runs, one right before half time and the other early in the third quarter," Chronister continued. "And both of those started off of steals or their turnovers. So I thought that was a big factor in the game were those two big runs."

Back-to-back 3's from Rice and Johnson around Brittany Harris' only field goal of the game started a 12-5 run that helped expand a 9-5 first quarter Lady Mule's advantage into a 21-10 lead. Poplar Bluff would finish the first half on a 10-0 run to make it a 33-14 game at the half.

Dexter went to its strength to start the second half, working the ball inside to Abbie Warren who was fouled on the first possession of the third quarter. She hit one-of-two free throws, but the Lady Mules quickly regained the momentum by hitting their next seven shots in a 13-4 run. Johnson had seven points in the stretch, while Rice added four and Marissa Webb netted four of her 11 for the game.

Eight of the points in the run came off turnovers created by Poplar Bluff's guard play and left Dexter looking up at a 48-19 deficit.

"Coming in to this game we knew Bluff was a really good team and we knew it was going to be tough even here at our own place." Dexter coach Chad Allen said. "They have some great guards they are both seniors and they have a lot of experience behind them and it showed tonight. They can get the ball to the right people, they can penetrate, they can shoot -- I think they both had 3's tonight -- so I mean they can do a little bit of everything.

"But our girls fought hard and every game is a big test for us to see if we can learn from our mistakes and keep on going," Allen added. "It's still not to late this year to learn from a game like this."

While Dexter fought hard and played until the final buzzer, Warren was the only player that was able to score consistently against the Lady Mules' defense, working inside where she took advantage of a height advantage. She finished with a game-high 20 points.

"Abbie, she's a workhorse," Allen commented. "Inside, when we got her the ball, she either scored or got fouled. She's our backbone this year and we're relying on her a lot. She's the only one back with a lot of varsity experience. She's handled it real well."

Warren, along with fellow classmate Kaitlyn Phillips, were honored before the game on Senior night.

Dexter, now 13-8 on the year, will be back in action tonight when the Lady Bearcats will travel to Cape Girardeau for makeup game with Notre Dame Regional High School, ranked No. 3 in Class for in the most recent polls.

Varsity Girls

Poplar Bluff 57, Dexter 37

POPLAR BLUFF -- (fg-ftm-fta-tp) Johnson 5-4-4-16, Rice 6-3-6-17, Ivie 2-0-0-4, Farmer 0-2-2-2, Webb 4-3-4-11, Knickles 3-1-1-7. Totals: 20-13-17-57

DEXTER -- Frazier 1-0-0-2, Ward 1-2-4-4, Hessling 2-1-2-5, Harris 1-0-0-2, Mouser 0-2-2-2, Warren 6-8-11-20, Phillips 1-0-0-2. Totals: 12-13-19-37.

3-Pointers: Poplar Bluff 4 (Rice 2, Johnson 2); Dexter 0.