NORE DAME BOYS WIN FINALE OF REGULAR SEASON, DEFEAT MALDEN

MALDEN -- The Notre Dame Bulldogs will go into districts on a high note after defeating Malden 66-50 Thursday night in its final regular season basketball game.

"It was Malden's Senior Night and they came out fired up," said Notre Dame coach Chris Neff. "I called a timeout and told the kids I thought they were being outplayed and they agreed. We needed to regroup and take control and I thought we did after that."

Malden had jumped out to a first-quarter 17-12 lead, but Notre Dame rebounded in the second quarter by outscoring Malden 18-10 to take a 30-27 lead into halftime.

The Bulldogs continued to pull away in the third quarter on a 19-10 scoring run, and held on in the fourth for the win.

Chris Dirnberger paced Notre Dame (15-10) with 11 points, while Curtis Danenmueller pitched in by scoring 10.

Lance Scherer tossed in a game-high 15 points for Malden and DuShawn Butler finished with 13.

Oran 67, Kelly 63

ORAN -- Philip Seyer pumped in a game-high 28 points to lead the Eagles over Kelly.

"Kelly seemed to stick to Travis Friga and that opened things up for Seyer," said Oran coach Larry Boshell. "It's a big battle every year when these two teams meet, and Philip really came up big for us."

Friga helped Oran (15-9) out by notching 18 points.

Both teams closed out the first quarter tied 16-16, but Oran outscored the Hawks 17-12 in the second period to go into the break with a 33-28 lead. Kelly countered in the third to go up 48-45 on a 20-11 scoring run, but Oran rebounded in the final eight minutes by outscoring Kelly 23-15 for the win.

Kelly (12-12) was led in scoring by Jeremy Skelton's 17 points. Quinton Schaefer, Daniel Seyer and Michael Romas netted 11 points apiece.

Zalma 67, Meadow Heights 61

ZALMA -- Dustin Wiseman scored Zalma's first 16 points of the game to point the Bulldogs into the direction of their fourth win of the season.

Wiseman, who finished with game-high 24 points, sank all five of his 3-pointers in the opening quarter. Jason Means added 19 points and Ronnie Moit finished with 13.

Zalma held a 25-21 lead after one quarter and bumped its advantage up to 44-32 by halftime. The Bulldogs took a 55-43 lead into the fourth quarter and held on.

Cody Thompson paced Meadow Heights with 19 points while Chris Burr had 14 and Josh Mayfield had 10.

Outreach Christian 63, Eagle Ridge Christian 44

JOPLIN -- The third-seeded Outreach Christian boys defeated sixth-seeded Eagle Ridge Christian in the eight-team MCSAA State Tournament, thanks in part to a 28-point scoring effort by Jeryn Misenhelter.

Anthony Michelson deposited 11 points and Doug Ledbetter added 10 for Outreach.

Eagle Ridge (7-9) came out hot with a 26-17 lead in the first quarter, but was outscored 50-18 by Outreach through the last three quarters.

Eagle Ridge's Toby Shreve tossed in 14 points and Daniel Ellinghaus finished with 10.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Notre Dame 57, Chaffee 18

Playing its final home game of the season, Notre Dame dismantled Chaffee on Senior Night.

Ashley Millham led the assault with 14 points while Courtney Vickery, Lisa Millham and Jessica Seratti all finished with 10 points apiece.

Notre Dame (18-5) took an 11-2 lead into the second quarter and carried a commanding 27-9 lead into halftime.

The Lady Bulldogs have drawn the top seed in the Class 2A, District 1 Tournament in Bloomfield and open play against eighth-seeded Puxico Saturday at noon.

Scott City 55, East Prairie 17

SCOTT CITY -- The Lady Rams jumped out to a 21-3 lead in the first quarter and cruised to victory.

Rachel Spinks led Scott City (8-13) with 13 points and Amber Dannenmueller and Jennifer Bain netted 10 apiece. Dannenmueller scored all of her points in the first quarter before departing with a pulled hamstring.

St. Vincent 45, Oran 34

ORAN -- The Squaws turned a 20-7 second-quarter scoring advantage into a win over host Oran.

St. Vincent (16-8) took a 6-4 lead in the opening quarter before pulling away to a 26-11halftime lead. Oran outscored St. Vincent 23-19 down the stretch in the second half, but fell short.

"We had a great second quarter," said St. Vincent coach Terry Wengert. "We played a two-three zone and put very little pressure on the ball, but Oran just missed a few shots here and there."

Jessica Lakenan led the Squaws with 10 points.

Sarah Heisserer sank a game-high 14 points for the Lady Eagles.

Warrenton Christian 34, Eagle Ridge Christian 29

JOPLIN -- The third-seeded Warrenton Christian edged out sixth-seeded Eagle Ridge in the six-team MCSAA State girls' Tournament.

Eagle Ridge (4-7) converted only 11 of 30 free throws down the stretch for the loss.