Lady Mules too much for shorthanded SHS

Sikeston's Jerrica Taylor and Poplar Bluff's Sara Eyler fight for a rebound as Sikeston's Darquesha Howard looks on.
(Photo by Chris Pobst, Staff)

sd_sports@yahoo.com

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Lady Bulldogs wanted to make the Poplar Bluff Lady Mules beat them from the outside. They converged on almost all drives in the paint and stacked the lane with a 2-3 zone.

They did their part defensively, but the Lady Mules did their part from the perimeter as well.

"Our girls played good defense they (Poplar Bluff) just made the shots," Sikeston head coach Homer Jackson said.

Poplar Bluff hit two 3-pointers and found their stroke from the outside in the first quarter as they went on to outscore Sikeston 24-5 in the first eight minutes. The Lady Mules eventually went on to win the game 56-23.

"Our goal at the beginning of the game was if they were going to make shots on us lets make them make the shots on the outside," Jackson said. "Let's not give up lay up after lay up."

Sikeston struggled right out of the gate missing one of their vital pieces to their offense. Asia Liggins, the Lady Bulldogs' leading scorer, was out due to an unspecified injury. In Sikeston's last game prior to Thursday night, Liggins' scored 22 points in a 62-34 win against the Chaffee Lady Devils.

"We've been playing with her all along and then all of a sudden she's not there," said Jackson about the absence of Liggins. "The girls were looking for her to be there. We're not looking for an excuse though. Those girls have to play whether she's there or not."

Without the presence of Liggins, Sikeston missed their first six shots from the floor and shot a dismal 18 percent (2-of-11) in the first quarter.

"We tried to push the ball up the floor and tried to catch their defense in transition," Jackson said. "Sometimes we were able to do that. The decision to get down there was correct but we weren't able to finish the play."

Once the Lady Mules showed they could and were going to beat the Lady Bulldogs from the outside, Sikeston's inside defense began to fall to pieces. After Poplar Bluff built a 32-14 half time lead, they continued to pour it on with a 14-1 run in the third quarter. They would outscore Sikeston 16-3 in that quarter despite missing 9-of-16 shots from the floor.

Poplar Bluff forced 21 turnovers and held the rebounding advantage 27-22.

"We want to try and put pressure on the basketball, control the boards, take care of the basketball and try to push it," Poplar Bluff head coach Kirk Chronister, who has lost only one game at the Sikeston Field House in his career, said. "I thought we had some success in that tonight."

Courtney Knuckles led the Lady Mules with 10 points. Chelsea Darnell added nine points while Abby Ivie chipped in with eight. Poplar Bluff had 10 different scorers contribute to the win.

Darquesha Howard led the Lady Bulldogs with seven points while Taneshia Pulley and Keyanna Blissett each added four points apiece.

Sikeston (3-7) will be on the road on Monday when they travel to Kennett to take on the Lady Indians.

POPLAR BLUFF (56) -- Ruthie Johnson 6, Dennisha Rice 5, Chelsea Darnell 9, Abby Ivie 8, Danielle Farmer 2, Kelsey Bates 2, Sara Eyler 7, Marissa Webb 5, Riley Greenwell 2, Courtney Knuckles 10. FG 22 FT 10-14 F 4. (3-pointers: Johnson 1, Rice 1. Fouled out: none.)

SIKESTON (23) -- Tyanne Townsend 2, Keyanna Blissett 4, Darquesha Howard 7, Tyangela Gibson 2, Jerrica Taylor 2, Taneshia Pulley 4, Jani Ivory 2. FG 10 FT 2-3 F 14. (3-pointers: Howard 1. Fouled out: none.)

Junior Varsity

The Poplar Bluff Lady Mules began the sweep of the Lady Bulldogs on Thursday night with a 48-11 junior varsity win.