Losing valuable senior to injury was 'terrible' for Dexter coach, Bearcats

Of the 10 losses in 22 games endured by the Dexter High School girl’s basketball squad this season, half of those have come in the last month, following Monday’s 59-39 defeat at Poplar Bluff.

What appeared to be a certainty, the Bearcats topping last season’s 13-win mark, is now questionable, as Dexter has four regular season games remaining on its schedule, all of which are against teams with winning records.

But as frustrating as losing five of the last seven games have been for fourth-year Dexter coach Eric Sitze, having to sit and watch a serious knee injury happen to senior center Caitlin Giles has been even worse.

“It’s terrible,” Sitze said of the injury. “We feel so bad for her.”

The Bearcats were in the midst of achieving its most successful season since 2019 before Giles tore her ACL in her left knee against Sikeston on Jan. 26, and without her, Sitze admits that his team is desperately trying to right itself.

“We’ve had to move kids around,” Sitze said. “We’ve got three or four kids playing in different roles and different positions on defense.

“It has really been an adjustment.”

Sitze is 22 games into a 26-game season and now has to figure out how to make up for the loss of his best post defender, best rebounder, and second-leading scorer.

“We’re three-quarters of the way through our season,” Sitze said, “so their habits are ingrained. We’re trying to break habits and figure out new roles.”

For Dexter Athletics, losing Giles is heartbreaking after she put so much effort into being a critical piece to the success of both the Bearcat basketball program, as well as volleyball.

“She has worked so hard,” Sitze said. “She was having a great year. She was our second-leading scorer and rebounding and defensively for us. I just hate it for her.”

Over the past four seasons, the Bearcat basketball program has methodically climbed from five to nine to 13 and now 12 wins this season.

In volleyball, with Giles playing a prominent frontcourt role, the Bearcats won 77 games and an MSHSAA Class 3 District 1 championship.

“She is a great, coachable kid,” Sitze said. “She is great in the classroom, and she has been a ‘Yes, sir (and) No, sir’ type of a kid, who you can get on, you can coach her hard, and she just bounces back up.

“She is just a really resilient kid. We’re just really going to miss her, her attitude, and her effort.”

Dexter (12-10) will host Oran (14-8) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.