Niemczyk selected conference player of year

Bell City senior Nick Niemczyk was named the player of the year in the Stoddard County Athletic Association for the 2007-08 basketball season.

Niemczyk led the Cubs to the league's regular-season and tournament titles and helped them win a fourth straight Class 1 district championship.

Also honored from Bell City were coach of the year Brian Brandtner, who has won district titles in each of his three seasons at Bell City; senior Marty Dames, who was named the league's top defender; and fellow all-conference selections Phillip Gross and Ethan Watkins.

Bell City had four of the 12 players named to the all-conference team.

Advance's David VanGennip and Jacob Bond also were on the squad.

Woodland's Caleb Lee and Kyle Reynolds were honorable mention picks.

Stoddard County all-conference

BOYS

Player of the Year: Nick Niemczyk, Bell City

Defensive Player of the Year: Marty Dames, Bell City

Coach of the Year: Brian Brandtner, Bell City

First team

David VanGennip, Advance; Matt Allison, Puxico; Phillip Gross, Bell City; Kevin Hart, Dexter; Nick Niemczyk, Bell City; Kyle Williamson, Bloomfield; Jacob Bond, Advance; Silas Dill, Bernie; Ethan Watkins, Bell City; David Crain, Puxico; Marty Dames, Bell City; Drew Thornton, Richland.

Honorable Mention

John Smith, Puxico; Zach Curry, Bernie; Leighton Hensley, Bloomfield; Caleb Lee, Woodland; Jake Welch, Bernie; Kerry McClure, Puxico; J Hon, Puxico; Bobby Rawson, Dexter; Jake Owens, Bernie; Jake Smith, Bernie; Kyle Reynolds, Woodland.

Scott-Mississippi

After taking their respective teams to the Class 1 final fours, Delta girls basketball coach Randy White and Scott County Central boys coach Ronnie Cookson were named coaches of the year in the Scott-Mississippi Conference.

White recently announced his intention to retire from coaching and teaching at Delta, while Cookson said he will stay on one more year in his second stint at Scott County, where he led the program to 12 state titles in his first stint of 25 years that ended in 1995.

Kelly junior Debra Hall won the girls player of the year honors, while East Prairie's Tony Jones grabbed the boys honor.

Hall led the Hawks to district runner-up honors in Class 3 and a win this season over Class 1 runner-up Delta.

Joining her on the girls first-team were junior Jodi Menz, sophomore Taylor Smith, senior Sarah Keys and senior Sara Blattel of Delta. Oran senior Callie Kielhofner and freshman Cheyenne King also made the 10-player first team, along with Stephanie Essner of Scott City and Kelly's Londyn Backfisch.

Honorable mention honors went to Kristen Powell and Kayla Cissell of Kelly, Amber Kirk and Whitney Schlosser of Chaffee and Brianna Johnson of Class 1 district champion Scott County Central.

The boys team included three Scott County Central players — junior Drew Thomas, senior D.D. Gillespie and senior Caleb Johnson — as well as Scott City seniors Jay Simmons and Alex King, Oran's Kody Campbell, Chaffee's Andy Hendrix and Kelly's Josh DeBrock.

Honorable mention selections included Jerrod Steger and Tamion Taylor of Chaffee, Oran's Cody Romas and Kurt Rendlemann, Kelly's Levi Felter, Scott City's Shae Simmons, Scott County Central's Bobby Hatchett and Delta's Tyler Martin.

Scott-Mississippi all-conference

BOYS

Player of the year: Tony Jones, East Prairie

Coach of the year: Ronnie Cookson, Scott County Central

First team

Tony Jones, East Prairie; Drew Thomas, Scott County Central; D.D. Gillespie, Scott County Central; Caleb Johnson, Scott County Central; Kody Campbell, Oran; Jay Simmons, Scott City; Alex King, Scott City; M.C. Williams, East Prairie; Andy Hendrix, Chaffee; Josh DeBrock, Kelly.

Honorable mention

Jerrod Steger, Chaffee; Cody Romas, Oran; Ryan Jones, East Prairie; Levi Felter, Kelly; Bobby Hatchett, Scott County Central; Shae Simmons, Scott City; Kurt Rendlemann, Oran; Tyler Martin, Delta; Tamion Taylor, Chaffee.

GIRLS

Player of the year: Debra Hall, Kelly

Coach of the year: Randy White, Delta

First team

Debra Hall, Kelly; Jodi Menz, Delta; Taylor Smith, Delta; Callie Kielhofner, Oran; Cheyenne King, Oran; Sarah Keys, Delta; Grace Swann, East Prairie; Stephanie Essner, Scott City; Sara Blattel, Delta; Londyn Backfisch, Kelly.

Honorable mention

Rianna Thrasher, East Prairie; Kristen Powell, Kelly; Kayla Cissell, Kelly; Jerquanda Sherrell, Charleston; Amber Kirk, Chaffee; Whitney Schlosser, Chaffee; Brianna Johnson, Scott County Central.

Jefferson Co. Conference

The all-conference team for the large-school girls basketball division seems to have been misplaced in Jefferson County, but Perryville did have the division's MVP in senior Kendra Schilli.

Schilli and Perryville junior Ava Johnson were named to the all-conference first team for the second straight year.

Perryville swept the league's MVP honors — just as it did the team titles — for girls with St. Vincent junior Courtney Besand winning the small schools honors.

Terry Wengert of St. Vincent was the coach of the year in the small schools division.

Joining Besand on the first team all-conference was Lacey Siegmund, while Jessica Welker made the second team and Brooke Brown and Kelsey Cissell received honorable mention.

In boys basketball, Perryville's Brent Roth made the second team for the large schools, while St. Vincent had three players honored in small schools — Josh Rollet on the first team, Justin L'Hote on the second team and Aaron Dzik on honorable mention.

Class 4 all-district

Notre Dame's Ryan Willen and Austin Greer earned first-team all-district honors and Paul Hale was the coach of the year after leading the Bulldogs to the Class 4 District 1 title and eventually the state championship.

The all-district boys team also included Michael Porter and Juqualin Wiggins of district runner-up Sikeston and Kevin Hart of Dexter.

In the girls district honors, Notre Dame sophomore Jane Morrill and Perryville senior Kendra Schilli were first-team selections. Dexter's Katelyn Heil, Fredericktown's Courtney Kemp and Ste. Genevieve's Holley Fox rounded out the team.

Lonny Sheldon of runner-up Fredericktown was named the girls coach of the year.