Lady Tribe comes up short against Sikeston

Staff photo by Mike Buhler
Kennett's Vickie Panousis (right) and Madison Bryant (left) battle with a Sikeston player for the ball during Wednesday's girls soccer game at Kennett.

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The slow-start bug bit again Wednesday, as the Lady Tribe surrendered a pair of first-half goals in a 3-1 loss to the Sikeston Lady Bulldogs at Indian Park.

"Sikeston is a very aggressive, rough team," Kennett coach Holly Engle said. "Our girls need to play tougher when we play rough teams."

Staff photo by Mike Buhler
Kennett's Rachel Henderson (7) and a Sikeston player fight for the ball during Wednesday's girls soccer game at Kennett.

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The Lady 'Dogs made it 2-0 before halftime when Keyanna Blissett took an assist from Keefer in the game's 24th minute.

"They're really good players," Sikeston coach Derrick Long said. "They've got good touch up top and a lot of speed. We had the ball up there to them a lot. Anytime you get it up to your fast forwards in any game, if you get it to them a bunch, they're going to cause some havoc up there."

Blissett and Keefer teamed up again midway through the second half, as Blissett found the back of the net in the game's 58th minute to increase the Sikeston lead to 3-0.

"It's kind of a smaller field than we're used to, so we were kind of condensed in our playing," said Long. "We've got a lot of speed up-top so we didn't have a lot of open field to have a lot of breakaways on them. I thought (Kennett) goalie (Alexandra Brown) played well about coming out on us -- it kind of snuffed our scoring chances out a bit. I thought our defense played well. ... I thought we controlled the game. I was happy with the way we played."

Said Engle: "We had some problems with defense and she got the brunt of that being the goalie. But she and the defense really turned around in the second half and did a very, very good job."

Kennett (0-7-1) got on the board late in the game when Vickie Panousis found the back of the net, setting the final score.

"Vickie did very well," Engle said. "Her and Elaine Hoskins did very well as forwards. Georgia (Hrissikos) got some slack at the beginning, but she did very, very well toward the end with keeping the spacing open."

Despite the loss, Engle was pleased with her team's defense.

"On our defensive side, Chrisie Burrow, Amber Dawes and Jamie Jarrett did very, very, well in that second half," said Engle. "I'm very proud."

Kennett is off until Monday when it travels to Jackson before coming home Tuesday to take on Poplar Bluff.

Notes: The Lady Tribe tied Paragould, Ark. 1-1 on Tuesday. Paragould scored in the game's final minute and Arkansas does not have shootouts to break ties. ... Kennett's game today at Perryville has been canceled. ... Next Tuesday's game against Poplar Bluff marks the beginning of a four game homestand for Kennett.

Baseball
Campbell 16, Malden 5
At Malden, the visiting Camels improved to 12-1 on the year with a win over district foe Malden.

The Camels pounded out 15 hits against three Greenwave pitchers as Cale Weeks led the way with a 4-for-4 day, including a double, homer and four RBIs.

Jake Nelson, Kyle Matthews, Dylan Lynn and Tyler Deen each had a pair hits for the Camels. Nelson hit a solo homer and drove in two runs, while Deen drove in three runs and Matthews drove in two.

Dylan Lynn got the win for the Camels, pitching into the sixth.