‘It’s something to build on:’ Sikeston GBB bows out of C5D1 playoffs with 53-26 loss to Farmington

CAPE GIRARDEAU — While it wasn’t the end result they wanted, the Sikeston Lady Bulldogs are in a much better spot than when head coach Vaughn Shephard first started his career.

Landri Hammontree and Marlie Crook each finished with a team-high eight points as No. 6 seed Sikeston fell to No. 3 seed Farmington 53-26 in the Class 5 District 1 quarterfinals on Thursday, Mar. 6, at Cape Central High School.

“It's something to build on,” Shephard said. “I know we have a few seniors and two starters that are going to be gone. We have Kennedi Sims, Marlie Crook, and some young players coming back, but you never know what could happen, especially with girls' basketball. I think we can build on just the intensity and the way we play coming out. The games look different sometimes with intensity, and we didn't do it a lot this year, but in the second half of the season we did that. We built on that throughout the season and won some big games.”

Hammontree, a senior, ends her high school career as one of Sikeston’s most decorated female athletes as the program’s all-time leading scorer after surpassing the 1,000-point mark as early as her junior year in 2024.

With her and Crook leading the way, the Lady Bulldogs (15-11) bowed out of the year with their first winning season since 2022 when the program finished 17-7. Kennedi Sims added six points in the effort.

“Unfortunately, it didn't end like we wanted to,” Shephard said. “Farmington is a great team and well-coached. We knew what we had to do to come in to win the ball game, but we did some of those things, and then we just failed in the other departments. But I am proud of my girls.”

Freshman Maddie Clay had a game-high 16 points, while fellow underclassmen Kate Jenkerson and Lila Roth added eight apiece for Farmington (14-13), which will square off against No. 7 seed Cape Central (12-14) in the district semifinals on Friday, Mar. 8.

Sikeston struggled to overcome the Knights’ size advantage and couldn’t escape their inside dominance.

The Lady Bulldogs initially kept it close after only trailing 17-14 with five minutes left in the first half. That's until Farmington took total command with a 10-0 run, including a long-range 3-pointer from Jenkerson, that made it 27-13 at the break.

The Knight completely broke things open in the ensuing half, building a 43-16 lead by the end of third quarter. The highlight of the second half for Sikeston came when Hammontree knocked down a corner 3 (the final basket of her high school career) midway through the frame, but the Lady Bulldogs could not muster much of an offensive attack from that point on.

Farmington’s Katie Heberlie drilled a 3 with 13 seconds left to cap off the lopsided win.

Despite the big loss, Sikeston has something to build on moving forward. The Lady Bulldogs had a seven-game winning streak late in the regular season – their longest since 2020 (7) – and had the winningest season under Shephard, who is looking forward to the future of his program.

“They can't hang their heads this season,” he said. “We had a great year. We had a lot of adversity happen this season, and we played through it all. So, just to build from this season, we just have to grind in the offseason, get in the gym as much as we can, work on the fundamentals, and work on things that we didn't do right this season. Just get better at the game.”