Lady Bearcats finish strong in win over Valley View

PARAGOULD, Ark. -- Down 10 in the closing seconds of the first quarter, the Dexter Lady Bearcats hurried upcourt and found junior Alison Jarrell open in the corner.

Her 3-pointer at the buzzer was the start of a furious finish as Dexter beat Valley View (Ark.) 64-32 in the opening round of the McDonald's Shootout.

"To give them 15 points that first quarter and only allow them 17 points the rest of the game, I just thought that was big," Dexter coach Chad Allen said. "(It was) just getting down and guarding them and keeping that pressure for three quarters."

Dexter went 6 1/2 minutes between points in the first quarter but spent the final 8 minutes of the first half scoring at will. The Lady Bearcats went on a 23-4 run in the second quarter and closed the game with a 56-17 swing.

Valley View took a 15-5 lead on a three-point play on a fastbreak layin with 9.7 seconds left in the first quarter. Jarrell, who hit her first 3 to open the scoring, was open in the same corner with the buzzer fast approaching.

Jarrell sank two more 3-pointers in the second quarter and finished with 17 points.

"Her eyes light up whenever somebody goes to a zone," Allen said. "She can definitely knock them down."

Brittany Harris also had 17 points to go with nine rebounds while Erika Cobb added 13 points off the bench for Dexter.

Valley View's 5-9 sophomore Ashleigh Guthrie scored nine of her 14 points in the first quarter. The Blazers shot 24 percent and turned the ball over 25 times under Dexter's pressure.

The Lady Bearcats struggled in the opening quarter by committing five turnovers and shooting 6-for-22 from the field against various zone defenses.

"We were missing a lot of chip shots and we just couldn't get anything to fall offensively," Allen said. "On the defensive end, we were giving them way too much."

Dexter rallied in the second quarter by holding Valley View scoreless for nearly 4 minutes. Harris went to work in the paint and at the free-throw line, scoring four straight points. Free throws by Paige Patterson and Cobb's layin off an inbound pass was followed by Katelynn Frazier's steal that set up Jarrell's game-tying layin with 3:40 left in the half.

Jarrell followed a turnover by Valley View with a 3 off a pass from Cobb for the lead. Patterson later scored a pair of second-chance buckets before Jarrell and Hannah Noe hit consecutive 3s.

Dexter took a 31-19 lead into halftime.

"Early on I feel like teams can play with us," Allen said. "But if we keep the pressure up we can wear them down a little bit and start making our run."

Dexter used a 44-33 rebounding advantage and 17 points off turnovers to overcome a 35 percent shooting night against Valley View's zone defenses.

"They definitely threw a lot of stuff at us," Allen said. "We had to adjust a lot. The girls settled down and I thought made a great run after being down like that."

Dexter advanced to the semifinal where they will play Jonesboro-BIC winner at 8:30 p.m. Friday. The winner advances to the championship, set for 4:30 p.m. Saturday while the loser plays at 3 p.m. for third.