Greenville shakes off rust, Donettes for victory

By ROB TATE ~ DAR Sports Writer

GREENVILLE -- It hasn't been a pleasant New Year for the Greenville Lady Bears.

Greenville was 0-4 in 2009 and hadn't even played a home game since Dec. 11 against Lesterville.

But things got better in the first round of the Ozark Foothills Conference tournament as the No. 4-seed Lady Bears rolled to a 47-35 win over the No. 5-seed Doniphan Donettes.

Greenville hadn't played a game since Jan. 22 when the Bears took a loss at Naylor.

"We haven't had but a quarter of our season (played)," Greenville coach Diane Meyer said. "And that's hurt us so bad. We've been at home stuck in our houses and we've finally gotten out and the first game we have start with is the conference tournament and we play against a team we've never seen play."

Doniphan was able to keep the game relatively close in the first half as it trailed by just four at halftime.

But the Lady Bears (7-7) got the offense fired up in the third quarter as the Greenville outscored the Donettes, 19-8.

Greenville junior Tara Porter scored 10 of the 19 points including two 3-pointers to get out to the big lead.

The Lady Bears led 40-25 after three quarters.

Doniphan (6-8) tried to claw back in it in the fourth quarter with a 12-0 run to pull back to with eight, but went scoreless the last 2:21 in the game.

Doniphan coach Brad Phillips was pleased with how his team played despite the loss and elimination from the tournament.

"I actually thought that was the best effort we've had all year," Phillips said. "I thought the kids put in a great effort and we were a little short-handed and for what we had I thought we battled."

For Greenville, Andrea Becker led all scorers with 16 while Porter had 14.

Phillips felt it was a tough challenge to keep them under wraps.

"They were just handful," Phillips said. "(Kadie) Civils got into foul trouble again and our depth really hurt us."

Doniphan was by

Pennington's 13 points. Civils added six.

"This was just an ice breaker game," Meyer said. "Just to get back in the flow of things. It was the first game of the season in our heads."

Meyer was happy to see her team get stops defensively.

"I was pleased with our defense," Meyer said. "We forced a lot of turnovers tonight and that's what we've been focusing on since we've come back is toughening up our defense."

Twin Rivers 65, Clearwater 49

Lady Tigers senior Lindsay Bell had the hothand from beyond-the-arc early for Clearwater. But the Lady Tigers needed more offense early as Twin Rivers built an early lead for good in the first quarter.

Bell hit two 3-pointers in the first quarter, but that's all the offense Clearwater (9-8) could come up with in the first quarter.

Twin Rivers coach Kelly Null was concerned how her team was going to come out after not playing since before the ice storm. Clearwater had played twice already this week.

"We focused on them all week," Null said. "We definitely didn't look past this game. We haven't prepared for anyone else except for Clearwater and we only beat them by four points before. They are a capable team that just came up on the short end of the stick a lot (this season)."

The Lady Royals (10-7) got a solid start out of sophomore Kelsey Snider who scored eight points in the first quarter and finished with 13. Snider had been battling injury all week and Null was proud of her effort.

"She's got two in-grown toe nails and she's had a rough week in practice," Null said. "Every time she stops and starts it hurts. I even told near the end of the game that I couldn't even tell and you did a good job but she said 'They hurt'."

Torey Davis had a solid game spread through each quarter as she totaled a game-high 23 points. Stephanie Jennings added 15 points. The Royals shot 86 percent (19-for-22) from the free-throw line.

Clearwater was paced by Bell who scored 22 points. Courtney DeClue added nine points.

Neelyville 73, East Carter 17

The No. 2-seed Lady Tigers pounced on the Lady Redbirds early and cruised to the win.

Neelyville (13-6) started the game on a 16-1 run in the first three minutes of the game.

Lady Tigers sophomore Chelsey Maupin scored 12 of her 18 points in the first quarter. Lindsey Emerson scored nine points in the first quarter.

Overall, the Lady Tigers had 11 different players score and they held East Carter (0-13) to just five points in the second half.

Neelyville scored 18 straight points in the middle of the third quarter including 3-pointers by Jessica Uhl and Chelsie Kovach. Maupin finished with 18 points and Emerson ended with 13. The Lady Redbirds were led by freshman Lindsay Crowley who scored eight of East Carter's 17 points.