Lady 'Dogs drop opener

Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Sikeston's Martika Davis (top) forces a jump ball.

SIKESTON - The Sikeston Lady Bulldogs basketball team lost their first game of the season, at home, against the Doniphan Donettes by a score of 83-59.

The story of the game was the third quarter, as the Donettes outscored Sikeston 36-9. In that quarter, Doniphan started out from halftime on a 10-0 run and forced the Lady Bulldogs to commit nine turnovers in the quarter.

"Wish we could bottle that third quarter," said Doniphan head Jimbo Blackwell. "We changed the press after we saw that they had some trouble against pressure in the first half. Our girls played some great defense which led to some easy baskets for us."

Sikeston started out the game on fire as they picked up the pace and outscored Doniphan 21-15 in the first quarter. Allison Blurton and Latoya Gipson led the Lady Bulldogs with some clutch baskets and good defense.

In the second quarter, the Donettes got leading returning scorer Morgan Davis going, as Doniphan eventually took the lead. But Blurton buried a 3-

Sikeston's Jessica McCray blocks a shot by Doniphan's Morgan Davis.

pointer from the left corner as time expired to put the Lady Bulldogs ahead 37-35 at halftime.

The Lady Bulldogs looked impressive in the first half playing a tight 2-3 zone defense and hitting the boards with reckless abandon.

Unfortunately for Sikeston fans, the second half wasn't as impressive.

"We are out of shape," said Sikeston head coach Fred Johnson explaining the third quarter collapse. "We played a good first half, then in the second half we got out of our offense. I take the blame for our performance in the third quarter. We are not in shape and that is my fault."

Doniphan increased the pressure in the third quarter, as the Donettes put on a 1-2-1-1 press after every basket. The pressure seemed to rattle the guards of Sikeston, which resulted in turnovers and easy baskets for the Donettes.

"Doniphan put on a little press but we didn't do the fundamentals to beat a press," said Johnson. "We dribbled with our heads down and their was no way we could see an open player. We have got to learn to see the entire floor when we are dribbling the ball."

The Lady Bulldogs looked fatigued by the midway point of the third quarter as a result of their own up-tempo style of play and the pressure of Doniphan.

Sikeston trailed 71-46 heading into the final quarter and had no answer in trying to stop Davis of Doniphan.

Davis hit two 3-pointers in the game but scored much of her 30 points on drives to the basket.

"Morgan did a good job early after her jump shot was off," said Blackwell. "She created and got her own shot which got us going early in the game. Morgan is the player we look to if we need a basket. I liked the way she took the basketball to the hole instead of taking too many 3-point shots."

The Lady Bulldogs outscored Doniphan 13-12 in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough as the Donettes won the meeting 83-59. Take away the third quarter and Sikeston outscored Doniphan by three points.

"Have to give credit to Sikeston," said Blackwell, "coach Johnson has them going and Sikeston has a good basketball team. We knew we would be lucky if we walked out of here with a victory."

Gipson and Martika Davis led the Lady Bulldogs in scoring with 14 points apiece. Blurton was the only other double-digit scorer for Sikeston as she scored 10 points.

Gipson and Davis also were leading rebounders for Sikeston as Davis led with 10 rebounds and Gipson added nine boards. Junior Jessica McCray was third on the team with six rebounds.

Senior Paige Silverthorn had three assists off the bench for Sikeston and sophomore Amber Minner also dished out three assists.

While Sikeston out-rebounded Doniphan 36-31, the Lady Bulldogs committed 26 turnovers to the Donettes' eight.

Besides Davis' big night scoring, Doniphan had balanced scoring as junior Angela Rodgers was the only other scorer in double figures with 11. The Donettes had six players score five points or more.

Rodgers led Doniphan in rebounding with eight, while Davis was second on the team with five rebounds.

Davis led the Donettes in assists with three.

The Sikeston junior varsity team also fell to Doniphan by a score of 42-33.

Doniphan (1-0) will be on the road again on Thursday, as they will travel to meet the Greenville Lady Bears.

Sikeston (0-1) hosts the Dexter Lady Bearcats on Thursday with the junior varsity game scheduled to tipoff at 6 p.m.

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