DONETTES 2, EAST CARTER 0: Doniphan beats Lady Redbirds in rematch of LRCC final

ELLSINORE — Nineteen days after the Doniphan Donettes and East Carter Lady Redbirds battled for the Lady Royals Christmas Classic title, the two squads met Monday in a key Ozark Foothills Conference battle.

And for the second time in 19 days, the Donettes emerged victorious, this time by a score of 59-49 in a battle of two of the area's best girls basketball teams.

“Great team win on the road,” Doniphan head coach Adam Epps said after the game. “We showed tonight we are more than just a drive and dump to Kenzie Redus team. Our guards can play and they did a great job of hunting high percentage shots.”

McKenna Monoghan led Doniphan with 19 points, followed Gracen Kirby with 15 and Redus with 11.

“McKenna Monoghan handled the ball exceptionally well tonight and wasn’t afraid to drive into East Carter's zone defense,” Epps added. “Kenzie Redus stood her ground at the post throughgout the game.”

“Freshman Dalilah Watson stepped up huge tonight off the bench for us especially when Kenzie and Sarah got in foul trouble. Kenna did a good job on one of the best scorers in our area and turned around to lead us in scoring.”

Brooklyn Kearbey led East Carter with 16 points.

“I had a starter go down in the first quarter and that definitely affected our rebounding,” said East Carter head coach Angela Rogers. “Then we just missed some easy shots that we should have made. It was a game that we could’ve done better with on a different day.”

That “different day” could come in the OFC Tournament, where the Donettes and East Carter could be among the tournament's favorites.

BCS Tri-County Tournament

Advance 32, Bloomfield 26

At Bloomfield, the host Lady Wildcats fell to Advance in the first round of the BCS Tri-County Tournament.

“We had a great defense and held Advance to 32 points” said Bloomfield head coach Emily Watkins. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t knock down open shots. I’m hoping we can come out and play better on Thursday.”

Kaelyn Conner paced Bloomfield with 11 points.

Oak Ridge 48, Puxico 25

At Bloomfield, the Puxico Lady Indians were defeated by Oak Ridge.

Adi Denny led Puxico with 15 points.

BOYS

Risco 73, Campbell 57

At Risco, the visiting Camels led early, but ultimately lost to the host Tigers.

Campbell was up in the first quarter, but lost their lead going into the second half.

“We’ve got to continue to work hard as we move forward,” said Campbell head coach Steve Fowler after the game. “We are getting ready to hit a tough conference schedule and need to get refocused. We had several kids play extremely hard tonight. We just gotta be able to put the ball in the hole more consistently.”

Ben Rowland (15 points) and Duncan Hicks (11) paced the Camels.

Neelyville 70, Gideon 46

At Gideon, the visiting Tigers won big over the host Bulldogs.

“We were able to come out and as a team execute defensively,” said Neelyville head coach Brad Burdin. “The team worked as a unit tonight and it showed. We are looking to take this momentum into a big conference game and district game later this week.”

Casen Stephens was the top scorer for Neelyville with 23 points.

Greenville 79, Marquand-Zion 37

At Marquand, the visiting Bears defeated Marquand-Zion in a blowout.

“We came in and did what we wanted to do,” said Greenville head coach Nathan Walk. “Now we are just focused on the rest of the week, trying to carry tonights gane into tomorrow and compete against a good, well coached Twin Rivers team (Tuesday).”

Cooper Sturgeon led Greenville with 19 points, followed by Owen Scherr with 13 points, and Easton Evans with 12 points.

Senath-Hornersville 57, Clarkton 55

At Clarkton, the host Reindeer dropped a close contest to the visiting Senath-Hornersville Lions.

“We lost to a good team tonight,” said Clarkton head coach Cole McBroom. “(Senath-Hornersville head) coach (Kurt) Penn had a good plan and our kids executed ours. They just hit a few more shots than we did.”

Owen Morgan (16 points), Clayton Godsey (14) and Amauri Gordon (13) were the top scorers for Clarkton.

Editor’s note: Christian Johnson of the Delta Dunklin Democrat provided some information for this story.

No information was reported from the Naylor and Malden girls games.