NOTRE DAME GIRLS SLIP PAST PERRYVILLE

PERRYVILLE -- Notre Dame High's girls basketball team continued its strong season Monday night, but the Lady Bulldogs certainly didn't have an easy time of things.

The Lady Bulldogs benefited from some poor Perryville free-throw shooting as they rallied in the second half to post a 62-57 road victory.

Notre Dame is now 9-2 while Perryville fell to 2-8.

"It was an exciting game and a tough game for us," said Notre Dame coach Jerry Grim. "They (Perryville) led most of the way."

Perryville led 30-26 at halftime and the Lady Pirates were still clinging to a 40-39 advantage after three quarters. But the Lady Bulldogs held a 23-17 final-period edge to prevail.

Ashley Millham paced Notre Dame with 15 points while Lisa Millham had 15. Perryville got 15 points from Stacy Baer and 12 from both Amanda Schumer and Jamie Amberger.

The Lady Pirates hit just 21 of 44 free throws while Notre Dame made 20 of 27 foul shots.

"Free throws seem to be killing us every game we lose," said Perryville coach Vicki Lohmann.

Delta Tournament

DELTA -- Top-seeded Twin Rivers, No. 2 Dexter, No. 3 Oran and No. 5 St. Vincent all picked up first-round wins as the eight-team Delta New Year's Tournament got under way.

Twin Rivers routed No. 8 Puxico 88-20, Dexter rolled past No. 7 Delta 60-39, Oran downed No. 6 Woodland 44-25 and St. Vincent knocked off No. 4 Chaffee 53-34.

St. Vincent improved to 6-1 as Jessica Lakenan scored 24 points and Sara Cissell added 10.

The Squaws led just 18-17 at halftime but the Squaws outscored Chaffee 15-11 in the third quarter and 20-6 in the final period.

Oran got 16 points from Sara Heisserer in its victory while Delta received 13 points from Rebecca Cook and 12 from Rebecca Below during its loss.

There will be four more games today, beginning with consolation semifinals pitting Chaffee against Puxico at 4:30 and Delta against Woodland at 6. The championship semifinals will feature Twin Rivers vs. St. Vincent at 7:30 and Dexter vs. Oran at 9.

FRESHMEN BASKETBALL

Central beats Notre Dame

Cape Central won a pair of freshmen games from rival Notre Dame, the `A' team prevailing 68-59 and the `B' squad winning 36-22.

Anthony Harris and Jeremiah Dukes both scored 16 points to lead Central in the `A' game. Wayne Essner had 17 for Notre Dame.

Cory Bowman paced Central's `B' squad with 12 points.