Kennett continues winning streak with 55-45 home win over Dexter

The Kennett girls basketball team (9-5) is now on a six-game winning streak after defeating Dexter (9-5) with a continuously improving and imposing defense at home Monday night. 

“That’s a very good team and we were just able to hang in there and hold on to win,” Kennett head coach Aaron New said. “I thought the key to the game for us was our half court defense and rebounding. We pressed early and we were good tonight defensively.”

The Indians salvaged a slow start to the first quarter until their press stepped up to pull ahead and lead 10-5 and then 19-13 entering halftime. 

Kennett’s scoring started remarkably balanced with those 19 points being contributed by all six players who had time on the court. Senior Lani Heeb scored the most points per quarter in the first half with just four coming in the first quarter. 

While that would change in a high scoring second half, Kennett’s offensive powerhouses went to work to match an attempted rally by Dexter.

After being down by 15 points early in the third quarter, Dexter went on a run and garnered a much-needed boost of momentum to pull within six points after a steal, layup and free throw by sophomore Kate Nichols.

Kennett would pull back ahead by a 10 point margin before entering the fourth quarter, however. With defense hard at work, the size and strength of senior Taleigh Harrell pushed rebounds into three layups to maintain the lead. 

“Taleigh had another big night for us,” New said. “And we’re starting to get more and more balanced up and down our lineup. Early in the year we were kind of depending on Taleigh and Lani to do it all, but we’re starting to get that balance that we’re needing.”

Kennett senior Taleigh Harrell (15)�aims to pass to a teammate in Monday night's game against Dexter Monday night.Christian Johnson, Delta Dunklin Democrat

Behind the scenes on defense, Kennett junior Jayla Moore has “been a dominant force on the inside,” for the past two games. In her “outstanding” games against both Campbell and Dexter, New explained she has been able to keep their opponents’ best players in check.

Back to back 3-point plays by Dexter’s Nichols and Abbie Lloyd pulled the Bearcats within five points with under five minutes remaining in the game. Immediately following, though, came two free throws and a layup by Harrell.

Shortly thereafter, Kennett’s Sophie Boone found the net with a rebounded 3-point shot. Following a huge save by Harrell to prevent a pass from going out of bounds, Heeb made a layup and two free throws to finish out the game and secure the 10 point victory in sight for Kennett nearly the entire game.

Taleigh Harrell led Kennett in scoring with 16 points, followed by Sophie Boone with 11, Lani Heeb with 10 and both Aneike Farmer and Tayja Carter with eight.

The Bearcats were paced by senior Caitlin Giles with 17 points, followed by Kate Nichols with 12 and both Abbie Lloyd and Allison Turnbo with seven apiece. 

Kennett had most recently defeated Campbell (6-5) in a 53-16 rout at TRC in Poplar Bluff on Saturday. In the last week, Kennett has surpassed the six wins the team accrued last season, and they will hope to continue adding to their winning column this year. 

Next up, Kennett travels to Charleston (1-6) on Thursday with JV beginning at 6 p.m.

“We’ve won six in a row now, we’d like to make it seven, so we’ll have to have a couple good days of practice,” New said. “We’re on a pretty good run right now, but it’s a long season so you hope to keep that rolling into late February.”

Dexter had most recently lost to Farmington (5-1) 36-60 and surely hoped for a decisive comeback win but will have to wait until Thursday as they face off against Neelyville (11-2) on the road.