East Carter's Kasey Mara, center, and Portageville's Kellye Penn battle for a loose ball during the first round game of the Lady Royals Classic in Broseley on Saturday. (Alex Abate/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

By BRAD HURT ~ DAR Sports Writer

BROSELEY -- The day got off to an ominous start at the Lady Royals Classic as the nasty weather outside produced a leak in the gym ceiling. The 12 hours of hoops was on track to finish Saturday night with the threat of snow.

At presstime, half of the eight games were completed.

Neelyville pulled off the first upset of the tournament with a 63-54 win over fourth-seeded Doniphan.

Before that, it was business as usual.

Dexter coach Chad Allen and East Carter coach Angie Bradshaw were both confident that their teams were ready to play at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. "We're definitely ready this morning," Allen said. "We just want to play our game." Bradshaw said that her team just planned to give their best effort in the face of unfavorable odds.

"We're going to do our best," she said.

The Lady Redbirds prepared for Saturday's game by scrimmaging against the junior varsity boys team.

The top-seeded Lady Bearcats didn't sleep in, winning 95-6.

Dexter's Ashlee Taylor scored 16 points in the first half of the game and finished with 18 points. Katelyn and Cathryn Heil also scored in double figures in the first half with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Katelyn finished as the game's leading scorer with 20 points.

Lindsay Eudaley gave East Carter its first points of the game with a layup 4:45 second quarter, 41-2. Brooke Thrower extended Dexter's halftime lead to 59-4 with a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.

Kelly 59, Kennett 21: The second-seeded Lady Hawks used their speed and defense to jump to an early double-digit lead. Kelly scored easy fastbreak baskets off turnovers, which numbered 12 in the first quarter.

The Lady Hawks took a 36-10 lead into halftime, led in scoring by Debra Hall's 12 points and Kayla Cissell's 11.

Kennett, the 15th seed, took better care of the ball in the second half but couldn't put any runs together to cut into the Kelly lead. They finished with 22 turnovers.

The Lady Hawks took a 53-14 lead into the fourth quarter, but the scrappy Lady Indians turned up their defense and held them to six points in the final period.

Hall finished with 22 points to lead all scorers.

Kelly's Lana Whitworth left the game with an ankle injury with 1:22 remaining in the first half but later returned.

Portageville 74, Senath 31: The fifth-seeded Lady Bulldogs struggled to take care of the ball, turning it over 12 times in the first half against Senath, but still led by 25 at the break.

Jeleea Drake had a big game for Portageville, scoring 12 in the first half, while Kellye Penn led all scorers with 15 in the first half.

The Lady Bulldogs built their lead to double digits for the first time when Penn put back her own miss down low for a 25-15 advantage with 3:54 remaining in the first half as part of an 11-0 run. The lead stood at 43-18 at halftime.

By pressing the Lady Lions into turnover after turnover in the second half, the Lady Bulldogs opened the half with a 15-4 run to lead 58-24 with 4:05 remaining in the third quarter.