Kennett, Lady Lions to meet for title

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Veronica Amos (right) battles with South Pemiscot's Mary Hollywood to pull down a rebound during Friday's girls' semifinal action at the Bulldog Classic in Gideon. [Click to enlarge]

GIDEON, Mo. -- Over the last few years, the basketball rivalry between the Senath-Hornersville Lady Lions and the Kennett Lady Indians has steadily developed into one of the best in southeast Missouri.

Now that rivalry may be headed up a notch. Both Kennett and the Lady Lions won their respective semifinal contests Friday night at the Bulldog Classic and will face each other for the tournament's title on Saturday night.

The second-seeded Lady Tribe rolled into the finals with a 50-8 rout of South Pemiscot, while No. 1 Senath-Hornersville rallied past New Madrid County Central 58-57 in an earlier semifinal.

"They're always a sound club," Senath-Hornersville coach Jamie Johnson said of Kennett. "They do a lot of things right. You've got to give a lot of credit to them. We're happy to be playing against them in the finals. We played a physical game (Friday) and expect another one in the finals."

In boys semifinals at the Classic, top-seeded Caruthersville downed Clarkton 78-55 while North Pemiscot upset Gosnell 58-46 to reach the championship game as a No. 6 seed.

Against NMCC, the Lady Lions (2-0) led by as many as nine points in the first half, only to watch the Lady Eagles rally to take the lead in the final period.

However, Senath-Hornersville rallied behind its defense to tie the score, setting the stage for senior McKenzie Harris.

"Our defense stepped up late in the ballgame, caused a lot of pressure and forced a lot of turnovers," said Johnson. "I think they kept their composure and made good things happen tonight."

With the score knotted at 57 apiece, Harris sank one free throw to put the Lady Lions ahead 58-57, then drew a charge on the ensuing possession to get the ball back and seal the win.

"McKenzie's a leader for us," said Johnson. "She's our captain. There's no one else I'd rather have at the line in those situations. More times than not, she succeeds."

Seleena Neal led Senath-Hornersville with 20 points, while Jami Jackson added 10 in the win.

Benesha Childress scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Lady Eagles, while Karen McGlosen added 12 and Jasimane Flennoy finished with 10.

While the Lady Lions had to battle to the wire to win, Kennett (2-0) had little trouble with South Pemiscot, scoring the game's first 15 points and never looking back.

"We worked on man defense a lot," said Kennett coach Casey Bunting. "We are itching to increase our time on the court in man and we were able to work out a few kinks tonight."

The Lady Tribe defense was on fire Friday, holding South Pem scoreless in the second quarter and keeping the Lady Bulldogs off the board over the game's final 9:11.

"Everyone saw a lot of minutes on the court tonight," said Bunting. "I've got 11 girls and every one of them is working hard on the court. We moved the ball well, took good shots and blocked out -- this has to be consistent for us each game."

Jerica Wheeler and Veronica Amos led a balanced Kennett attack with 11 points each.

"Our scoring was spread across the board tonight," Bunting said. "I had nine girls put points on the board. We are so pleased with that. It is such an advantage to have a team full of girls that can step up and put points on the board when they need to."

Now Bunting and Co. can look ahead to facing their archrivals.

"Of course we are excited to play Senath for the championship," said Bunting. "The Kennett/Senath rivalry is age-old and still burns strong. It would be a sweet victory to defeat the No. 1 seed in the tournament and come home with a championship."

Boys
North Pem 58, Gosnell, Ark. 46
In the late semifinal at the Bulldog Classic, the sixth-seeded Mustangs continued their amazing run to the finals with an upset of No. 2 seed Gosnell.

North Pem (3-0) turned a 24-22 lead at the break into a 10-point third-quarter edge behind the play of Britton Wilson and Brandon Holloman, then made the lead stand up in the final period to reach the finals.

Lejuane Johnson paced the Mustangs with 16 points, while Holloman and Wilson each finished with 15.

Caruthersville 78, Clarkton 55
In the first boys's semifinal, the top-seeded Tigers dominated the second half to turn a 35-33 halftime lead into a rout.

Seth Littrell and Vohland Fonda each scored a game-high 16 points for Caruthersville, while David Shaw and Belton McWilliams each added 13 and Caleb Moss drained four 3-pointers to end up with 12.

Logan Blackburn pumped in 15 points to pace Clarkton.