December 15, 2013
Repeat Champs: Dexter girls beat host Paragould in McDonald's Shootout title game again
PARAGOULD, Ark. - The second quarter proved to be the difference Saturday afternoon in the McDonald's Shootout title game between the Dexter Lady Bearcats and Paragould Lady Rams. Host Paragould played Dexter to a 10-10 first-quarter stalemate and outscored the Bearcats by two points in the second half...
PARAGOULD, Ark. - The second quarter proved to be the difference Saturday afternoon in the McDonald's Shootout title game between the Dexter Lady Bearcats and Paragould Lady Rams.
Host Paragould played Dexter to a 10-10 first-quarter stalemate and outscored the Bearcats by two points in the second half.
Defending champ Dexter won the second period 19-2 and maintained a double digit lead throughout the second half on its way to a 55-40 championship victory against Paragould.
"They are definitely tough," Dexter coach Chad Allen said of Paragould. "They've been the runner up in Class 5 in Arkansas the past two years. They've definitely got a good team and are well coached. To come in and win this tournament back-to-back [years] against a good Paragould team is a testament of our girls. They've definitely done well and hopefully we will just keep on getting better as the year goes on.
"I felt we sort of wore them down a little bit," Allen added of the second period. "We made it a little bit more of a transition game that second quarter and got a lot of transition buckets. I thought we did a good job, especially in the second quarter, of pulling away from them."
Dexter calculated its lowest field goal percentage of the tournament at 38 percent (16 of 42). Paragould shot 17 of 34 from the field.
The Bearcats made up the different by hitting 17 of 20 free throws, outrebounding Paragould 21-11 and tallying eight more steals.
Five-foot-nine sophomore forward Melanie McKuin played a big part in Dexter's second-quarter spurt. McKuin tallied eight of her 11 points in the second period.
"This is one of her best games yet, if not the best game" Allen said. "She's a great athlete. She's long and can get to the rim. She's a great one-on-one player. She's been on the boards quite a bit this year for us. She's going to be a big help for us throughout the course of the year and she's only going to get better."
Paragould held Dexter scoreless in the first four minutes of the second half. The Lady Rams had trimmed the deficit to 29-19 with 4:12 left in the third period when Allen elected to burn a timeout.
Senior center Paige Patterson recorded a 2-pointer in Dexter's first offensive possession after the timeout.
Dexter hit four of its six 3-pointers in the final three minutes of the third quarter to pad its lead to 43-28 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Both teams scored 11 points in the fourth period.
"At halftime we talked about they are definitely a championship team and expected them to come out swinging again," Allen said. "They did . . . We called a timeout and tried to settle the girls down and we ended up playing with them neck-and-neck the rest of the game."
Dexter senior guard Hannah Noe tallied a team-high 12 points in the championship. She collected five of Dexter's seven assists and had a team-high five steals.
Patterson had 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds. She was selected as the McDonald's Shootout Player of the Game.
Senior guard Alison Jarrell finished with 11 points. She hit half of Dexter's treys.
Noe was selected as the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. She had 23 points and seven assists in Dexter's opening round 97-15 win against Hughes, Ark., Thursday and tallied 24 points and seven assists in Dexter's 86-52 championship semifinal win against Nettleton, Ark., Friday.
"She played some point guard last year also with Katelyn Frazier," Allen said of Noe. "She does a good job at the point. She's hard-nosed and a good defender. She's an all-around good player that can knock the three down and take you off the dribble."
Four Dexter players - Noe, Patterson, Jarrell and Erika Cobb - were selected to the all-tournament team.
It is the second straight season Dexter (5-0) has beat Paragould in the McDonald's Shootout final. The Bearcats won last season's title game against the Rams 42-37.
Dexter returns to action Thursday when it visits New Madrid County Central.
Dexter 55, Paragould, Ark., 40
DHS 10 19 14 12 - 55
PHS 10 2 16 12 - 40
DEXTER (55) - Dakota Reynolds 6, Hannah Noe 12, Melanie McKuin 11, Alison Jarrell 11, Erika Cobb 4, Paige Patterson 11. FG 16, FT 17/20, F 10. (3-pointers: Jarrell 3, Noe 2, Reynolds 1. Fouled out: none)
PARAGOULD (40) - Abby Gibson 10, Kateyln Price 2, Orie Bryant 4, Sydney Laylock 18, Alexis Benson 3, Anna Phillips 3. FG 17, FT 1/3, F 17. (3-pointers: Gibson 2, Laylock 2, Phillips 1. Fouled out: none)
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