Notre Dame Bulldogs secure victory over Eagles with standout performances from bench

On Wednesday, Feb. 12, the Notre Dame Bulldogs girls basketball team defeated the New Madrid County Central Eagles 58-33 at Notre Dame Regional High School in Cape Girardeau.

Eliza Barnette led the Bulldogs with 14 points, while Sophie DeJournett added 12. Skylar Craft and Mia Panton had 11 to add to Notre Dame’s total.

Tamiah Word led the Eagles with 16 points.

In the first quarter, Notre Dame scored most of its buckets off turnovers, and a few 3 also fell. New Madrid found some success at the rim but trailed 18-8.

The second quarter went better for New Madrid, as the Eagles forced turnovers to bring the lead down to six. A foul and a late three made the lead 10 again, giving Notre Dame a 29-19 lead at the half.

Bulldogs head coach Kirk Boeller said despite some players being sick and unable to play, others stepped up for the win.

“I was very pleased with some of our girls that typically come off the bench playing a lot of minutes for us tonight. I thought they played incredibly hard,” Boeller said. “I thought we were aggressive on defense. We had people, who usually we don't ask to do a lot of things, step up and have big roles tonight.”

Notre Dame improved its defense in the third quarter, holding New Madrid to just four points. It led 46-23 heading into the fourth quarter.

Notre Dame pulled what starters they could with a depleted bench and cruised to the conference victory.

Boeller said it took a while for the girls who usually come off the bench to get going but played well once they did.

“It was just kind of getting used to each other's tendencies and shaking a little bit of nerves off for some people, but we settled in,” Boeller said. “I was going with different lineups all night, and they finally got comfortable with each other and just relaxed.”

Notre Dame still has a tough stretch of games ahead of them but Boeller said the team is in a good place before postseason.

“I like that we still have room to grow. I don't think we're playing our best basketball yet, and the girls seem to want to keep working hard,” Boeller said. “The end goal is getting ready for the postseason, so they're excited to keep growing as a team, and as a coach that’s refreshing to hear.”

Notre Dame next travels to Farmington on Tuesday to take on the Knights at 7:30 p.m.