Dexter frontcourt, team getting better at right time

Interestingly enough, both the boy’s and girl’s varsity basketball teams at Dexter High School are playing their best basketball at just the right time this season, and their success is in large part due to inexperienced players improving with each passing day.

For the Lady Bearcats, the ever-improving play of frontcourt athletes Mauriana Menley and Febe Worley has lifted Dexter to five wins in their past seven games, which ironically, the boy’s team has also strung together as a streak of late.

“We started the year (and) I only had one varsity girl with (a lot of) experience (senior guard Kate Nichols),” Bearcat girl’s coach Eric Sitze said following a recent win over SEMO Conference foe Notre Dame. “We have had a lot of girls, who didn’t have a lot of experience.”

Worley and Menley have battled each other daily in practice for the past couple of seasons, and that work has begun to pay dividends.

“Febe hasn’t shown on the floor (in games) what she shows in practice sometimes,” Sitze said. “She is growing. She is getting there.

“If her confidence keeps getting better, she’ll get better.”

If nothing else, Worley has made Menley better. Today.

Menley has emerged as a second scorer to Bearcat senior guard Kate Nichols, and the 6-foot Menley dropped 26 in a narrow defeat (63-60) against Cape Central recently.

Just a sophomore, Menley combined with Nichols to score 48 points in a recent rout of Saxony Lutheran.

“They’re a pretty good guard/forward duo for us,” Sitze told Semoball.com following the victory over the Crusaders. “Mo does a good job scoring inside for us, and Kate scores inside too. So, they both get to the rim really well and they do a good job of finishing around the rim.”

At 6-foot-1, Worley can impact a game with her size, despite not putting up the offensive statistics that Menley is capable of.

“Febe is just one of those late bloomers,” Sitze said. “She didn’t play a lot (as a junior). You can tell. Her confidence is getting better and better.”

So is her team.

Dexter was annihilated 62-21 by Notre Dame just over two months ago but got past the Bulldogs 63-58 at the Bearcat Event Center recently, as Menley scored 20 points.

“That is probably the biggest thing,” Sitze said of the improvement. “We’ve gotten a lot more experience throughout the year.

“We’re learning. We’re trying to get better.”

The Bearcats will host Hayti (7-10) on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. It is Senior Night for Dexter and Worley and Nichols will be recognized, as will guard Kenady Krapf.