Dynamic Dexter foursome reach 1,000 points in same season

Calling it a record isn't accurate. Although it's not known if it's ever happened before.

Luck? Nah.

More like tremendous circumstance.

It takes a certain kind of dedication and keeping injuries at bay for a player to score 1,000 career points in high school basketball. When four players do it in the same year it's, simply, special.

Dexter seniors Erika Cobb, Alison Jarrell, Hannah Noe and Paige Patterson all reached the 1,000-point mark for their career during the 2013-14 season. Two of them, to make what they did more indescribable, claimed the moment in the same game.

"I've never heard of it happening before," Dexter head coach Chad Allen said. "I know MSHSAA (Missouri State High School Activities Association) doesn't really keep records like that, but it's pretty special to have four in one year."

If it's not an anomaly yet, Patterson added that all four of them obtained the feat against teams that have an Indian as its mascot -- Jackson and Kennett.

"You want to know a fun fact? We've all scored it against Indians," she said. "It's amazing. It's a great feeling."

Though the circumstances that led to this accomplishment are hard to narrow down, the reasons for it happening are simple enough.

Dexter will be playing its second straight Class 4 semifinal on Friday and all four seniors are instrumental in their team's recent success. They each lead in one or more statistical category and have collectively rolled through the majority of the season for a 26-3 record. They showed their dominance over not only southeast Missouri competition on Saturday during a 75-31 rout over Battle in the quarterfinal.

"It's definitely a special group," Allen said. "They are so skilled offensively. Defensively, they've improved so much over the years."

Dexter's "1,000-point Club" began playing together in the third grade. Needless to say, the chemistry is there.

"Being together since third grade you kind of know everybody," Cobb said.

Allen said that when he saw this group in the seventh grade they were already skilled in nearly every aspect. It gave him, and assistant coach Eric Sitze, a chance to work on a more advanced set of skills once they hit their freshman year.

"That was a blessing to have," said Allen. "Whenever you get a group like that through middle school and seventh graders you can start working on other things. By the time they got in high school they basically knew everything."

The Lady Bearcats have been known for lopsided wins and being a continuous postseason threat for quite some time. They made their first Show-Me Showdown in 2009 and have won the Class 4, District 1 championship four times the last four years.

"It's good to be able to know you have people you can rely on whenever you're playing together and have good chemistry," Noe said. "It's definitely been fun."

Scoring points has rarely been a problem since that run began. The school's all-time scoring record was broke just last year by Brittany Harris. Harris passed Rachel Blunt's 1,491-point record from 2005.

Like in years past, this group has used a stifling defensive effort to fuel their rapid scoring pace. Dexter averages 74 points per game and 15.5 steals per game. They force their opponents into an average of 25 turnovers a game too.

"It's good to know that all the hard work you've put in is paying off," Noe said.

Noe leads the team in scoring with 20.4 points per game and is the team's point guard. She scored her 1,000th point Jan. 13 against Kennett, as did Jarrell. Noe hit her mark with a free throw in the last seconds of the second quarter. Jarrell, who is considered the team's 3-point specialist, passed it with -- what else -- a 3-pointer early in the fourth.

Jarrell has hit 87 3-pointers heading into the semifinal at a 42 percent clip.

"It was really exciting," said Jarrell, who averages 11.9 points. "I was really excited that Hannah got it and then I got it too."

Cobb was the third player to reach the mark on Feb. 24 during a 72-50 win against Jackson. She finished the night with 23 points. Cobb is the team's second leading scorer and rebounder with 13 points 5.8 rebounds.

Last was Patterson on March 6 against Kennett. Patterson hit her first free throw attempt in the third quarter to hit the 1,000 mark. The 6-0 center scores just south of 13 points per game and leads the team with an average of 6.5 rebounds.

"I'm just really proud of everybody," Jarrell said. "That's a hard accomplishment for anyone to do and the fact that we're teammates and we got it it's just really special. I'm proud of their hard work."