Perryville erases 14 point halftime deficit to defeat Dexter

It was a tale of two halves as Perryville erased a 14 point halftime deficit to defeat the Dexter Lady Bearcats 63-53 at the Bearcat Event Center Thursday evening.

“We came out too relaxed in the second half, they made some good adjustment defensively on us in the second half,” said Dexter coach Eric Sitze. “They took some things away from us that we were successful at in the first half and we didn't react to well. We turned the ball over a lot, we tried to make too many cross court passes, we were staring our passes down.”

“They did a better job in the second half of competing and getting on loose balls. Our offensive rebounding had been good up to this point, it wasn't very good tonight,” Sitze continued. “They outplayed us tonight, they did a good job.”

Dexter jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two three pointers by Allison Turnbo. Perryville answered with a 8-0 run to take an 8-6 lead. Dexter's Mauriona Menley evened the score at 8 after a two point bucket then nailed a free throw to give Dexter a 9-8 lead. Perryville's Brooklyn Moll then hit a jump shot along with a free throw to give Perryville an 11-9 lead.

Kate Nichols then answered with five straight points with a jump shot and a three pointer to give Dexter a 14-11 lead. After an exchange of baskets Dexter lead 18-13 after the first quarter.

The Bearcats then opened the second quarter with a 15-2 run to take a 33-15 lead. Perryville closed within 37-23 at half.

At the start of the second half Perryville flipped the script going on a 14-0 run to tie the game at 37. During the run Perryville's Aby Amberger dropped in 7 of her game high 25 points. Dexter regained the lead 39-37 when Menley dropped in a two point bucket. The teams exchanged buckets and Perryville took a 42-41 lead into the fourth quarter.

After a free throw by Moll stretched the lead to 43-41 for Perryville, Turnbo tied the game with a two point jump shot. Amberger answered with two of her own before Abbie Lloyd drained a three to give the lead back to Dexter 46-45. Nichols then hit a jump shot to give Dexter a 48-45 lead. Perryville then went on a 5-0 run to take a 50-48 lead before Nichols tied the game at 50.

Another 5-0 run by Perryville gave the Lady Pirates a 55-50. Lloyd hit another 3 to bring Dexter within 2 at 55-53. Dexter would get no closer as Perryville closed the game with a 7-0 run.

Moll finished with 24 points for Perryville, Amberger scored 25, Janies Porter added 9 points and Caroline Gemaud and Elizabeth Rhoden each had 2 and Lucy Wibbenmeyer had 1.

Nichols led Dexter with 17 points, Turnbo had 13 points, Klaire Essner scored 8 points, Menley had 7, Abbie Lloyd had 6 and Averee Ackman scored 2.

Dexter will next be in action Tuesday evening as they host Scott County Central. Perryville will travel to Hillsboro Monday evening.