Bell City marches into district final

Nick Niemczyk poured in 29 points as top-seeded Bell City routed Leopold 81-43 Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Class 1 District 2 boys basketball tournament at Zalma.

Phillip Gross added 13 points for the Cubs and Marty Dames contributed 10.

Dustin Thiele led Leopold with 18 points. Darren VanGennip added 15.

Bell City advances to Thursday's 7:30 p.m. championship game against Lesterville, which beat Eminence 75-69 in the other semifinal.

BELL CITY 81, LEOPOLD 43

Bell City 27 21 20 13 -- 81

Leopold 12 13 11 7 -- 43

Bell City (81) -- Ethan Watkins 4, Nick Niemczyk 29, Melvin Johnson 8, Phillip Gross 13, Jeff Long 2, Ronnie Gross 3, Marty Dames 10, Austin Bush 8, John Paul Arnold 4. FG 32, FT 10-18, F 9. (3-pointers: Niemczyk 2, Johnson 2, R. Gross 1, Bush 2. Fouled out: none.)

Leopold (43) -- Dustin Thiele 18, Cody Van De Ven 2, Wade Wiseman 5, Darren VanGennip 15, Larry Nussbaum 1, Jordan Jansen 2. FG 17, FT 3-4, F 12. (3-pointers: VanGennip 3, Wiseman 1. Fouled out: none.)

Class 3 District 1

There will be a new Class 3 state champion as Charleston was routed by New Madrid County Central 64-37 in Tuesday's district semifinals at Portageville.

The other semifinal saw Portageville beat Scott City 45-35 in overtime.

NMCC and Portageville will square off at 7:30 p.m. Thursday for the title.

GIRLS BASKETBALLClass 2 District 3

St. Vincent and Meadow Heights won Monday's semifinal games in the four-team tournament at Chaffee.

Top-seeded St. Vincent beat No. 4 Saxony Lutheran 52-22.

Brooke Brown led the Indians (18-7) with 11 points while Courtney Besand added 10.

Third-seeded Meadow Heights upset second-seeded Chaffee 48-28. The Panthers were led by Amanda Hendrickson with 19 points and Chelsey Kight with 12.

St. Vincent and Meadow Heights will play for the title at 6 p.m. Thursday.

St. Vincent 52, Saxony Lutheran 22

Saxony Lutheran 3 8 7 4 -- 22

St. Vincent 14 14 15 9 -- 52

Saxony Lutheran (22) -- Brooke Valeroy 7, Emma Meraz 6, Julia Steffans 5, Logan Hunt 2, River King 2. FG 8, FT 6-9, F 8.

St. Vincent (52) -- Lacey Siegmund 6, Kelsey Cissel 2, Courtney Besand 10, Lindsey Wehmeyer 4, Brooke Brown 11, Anne Steele 3, Elizabeth Rozier 7, Alyse Wheeler 4, Jessica Welker 5. FG 20, FT 10-14, F 9. (3-pointers: Rozer 1, Welker 1)

Meadow Heights 48, Chaffee 28

Meadow Heights 4 16 14 14 -- 48

Chaffee 5 5 13 5 -- 28

Meadow Heights (48) -- Hattie Cook 3, Ashley Dublin 3, Amanda Hendrickson 19, Micah Morse 3, Heather Dietiker 2, Danielle Welker 1, Sahra Mills 2, Jillian Mills 3, Chelsey Kight 12. FG 16, FT 14-27, F 8. (3-pointers: Dublin 1, Morse 1. Fouled out: none)

Chaffee (28) -- Whitney Schlosser 10, Anna Ayers 2, Nicole Johnson 7, Madeline Kiefer 1, Amber Kirk 8. FG 12, FT 4-12, F 17. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none)

Class 1 District 1

Scott County Central beat Risco 63-47 to reach the championship game of the three-team district at Gideon.

Markita Mosley scored 22 points for the Bravettes, who play top-seeded Oran in Thursday's 6 p.m. title contest.

Scott County Central 63, Risco 47

Risco 8 13 10 16 -- 47

Scott County 15 17 15 16 -- 63

RISCO (47) -- Razor 1, Godbey, Dickens 6, Passley 5, Carlisle 9, Burnett 23. FG 15, FT 15-18, F 19.)

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL (63) -- Brianna Johnson 13, Iesha Turner 16, Markita Mosley 22, Brittney Jones 10, Katie Ruedrich 2. FG 24, FT 14-27, F 15.

-- From staff reports