Dexter cruises past Greenville into second round of Lady Royals Christmas Classic

BROSELEY — The Dexter Bearcats girls basketball team was in control from start to finish as Bearcats took care of Greenville 57-19 in the first round of the Lady Royals Christmas Classic on Saturday.

Dexter took on Neelyville, who had the luxury of a first-round bye on Monday evening.

“We were happy to get the win and get Mauriona back on the floor,” Dexter coach Eric Sitze said. “It was a good team effort.”

Kenady Krapf and Kate Nichols led the Bearcats with 16 points each, with Nichols scoring all her points in the first half.

“Kate got us going and in a good rhythm that first half,” Sitze said. “Then Kenady really gave us a lift the second half. Our rebounding seemed to improve throughout the game also.”

Ariel West was Greenville’s point leader with nine, with all of them coming from the free-throw line.

The Bearcats started off the game with a 10-4 run in the first four minutes and went up 21-6 at the end of the first.

In the second frame, Greenville was held to only one point while Dexter scored 12 points as the Bearcats went into halftime up 33-7.

It was more of the same from Dexter in the second half as the Bearcats went up 50-15 by the end of the third, capped off with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the corner by Chloe Warren.

With the running clock in the fourth, Dexter was able to cruise to the win and advance to the second round.

In other action in the Lady Royal Christmas Classic, host Twin Rivers won a thriller over Malden 60-49, thanks to a fourth-quarter push to pull away from the Green Wave.

Greenville and New Madrid County Central both will have automatic byes to the semifinal round of the consolation bracket. Those games will be played after Christmas on Friday.

The Lady Royals face Portageville at 7:30 p.m. on Monday after Portageville bested Naylor earlier in the day on Saturday.

Doniphan also had a first-round bye as the top seed and the Donettes will take on Kennett at 3 p.m. on Monday.

Twin Rivers 60, Malden 49

In what turned out to the best game of the day on Saturday, the host Lady Royals used a strong fourth quarter to pull away from the 11th-seeded Green Wave.

Twin Rivers led just 36-33 at the start of the final period, but outscored Malden 24-16 in the final eight minutes to stave off the upset.

Ivy Benson and Lilly Oliver both paced the Lady Royals with 17 points apiece.

Mariah Laya led Malden with 13 points, while Mynena Thornton added 10 in the loss.

Kennett 56, NMCC 43

In the final game of the day on Saturday, the ninth-seeded Indians used a strong third quarter to take a 17-point lead to the final period as it got past eighth-seeded New Madrid County Central.

Kennett led 29-20 at the intermission, but outscored the Eagles 19-11 in the third period to take a 48-31 lead to the fourth.

Alyce Edwards led the Indians with 22 points, while Brooklynn Edwards added 16 and Aneika Farmer had 13.

Tamiah Ward led NMCC with 22 points.