C3D1 GBB: Portageville seeking to end Royals' reign

PORTAGEVILLE – Over a four-year stretch from 2018 to 2021, the Portageville High School girl’s basketball team won a total of 36 games and zero MSHSAA District championships.

Tonight, the Bulldogs have the opportunity to dispense of both of those things.

Portageville (21-6) will host two-time defending MSHSAA Class 3 District 1 champion Twin Rivers at 6 p.m. with the title on the line. A win would give 10th-year Bulldog coach Kellye Fowler’s program its 37th victory in the past TWO seasons, let alone four.

“I really think (this team) is hungry,” Fowler said after surviving against a better-than-advertised New Madrid County Central squad in Thursday’s semifinal. “We work together, and we work hard.”

That can be measured in wins, which Portageville has done more often this year than any season since the magical 26-3 season in 2008-09. And it can be measured at both ends of the floor.

The Bulldogs have allowed just 38 points per game by the opposition this year, which is 18 points better than two years ago, while offensively, their 56 points per game are the program’s best since 2016.

“We really want to win,” Fowler continued, “and we get after it. We have a lot of pieces.”

Fowler utilized nine players in Thursday’s win, and seven of those players produced offensively.

“In the past,” Fowler said, “I’ve had good teams and we would have a standout (player). I don’t have a standout (this year). I just have a lot of girls, who play hard and play together on any given night.

“Any one of them may be the leader offensively or defensively. We just play both sides of the floor very equally.”

Similar to Thursday’s win over the Eagles, Portageville will be facing an opponent that it beat handily earlier this season. The Bulldogs beat the Royals 44-33 in Brosely in December. Having said that, Portageville trailed New Madrid, a team it smoked earlier this season, throughout the first half and led by just four points early in the fourth quarter.

“Portageville is not going to lay down,” Royals coach David Crockett said. “It is going to be another battle. I fully expect that.

“It’s going to be a dog fight.”

Twin Rivers ended the Bulldogs’ season in the District championship a year ago, which extended Portageville’s streak since 2009 without a championship.

The Bulldogs won consecutive District titles in 2008 and 2009, which Fowler is very aware of because she was a senior standout on the first of those championship squads. Those were the first District titles since 1988 for the program.

“Of course, there is some pressure,” Fowler said. “Everybody wants to win (a District championship) and being the No. 1 seed, I feel like there is some pressure. We were in the championship game last year.

“I don’t think that there is pressure because we haven’t won one in a long time. This group just wants one, so we have some self-imposed pressure there.”