MAAA Large-School teams have big Monday night

By DONN ADAMSON\Daily Journal Sports Editor

Four out of the five MAAA Large-School Conference girls teams that were in action on Monday night came up winners on the basketball court. North County, Farmington, Potosi and Fredericktown padded their win columns, while only Ste. Genevieve was inactive for the evening. (The North County game was in Tuesday's Daily Journal.)

Farmington 55, Vashon 52

ST. LOUIS - The Farmington Knightettes kept things close during the first half of play, but in the third quarter Vashon slipped away and gained a seven point lead. The Knightettes' defense stepped it up a notch in the fourth quarter to take a 55-52 win back home with them.

"We missed a few chippy shots and made a few turnovers early," said Farmington coach Steve McFarland explaining their dilemma. "That dug us a hole, and we had to make up for it there in the fourth."

The Knightettes outscored the home team 19-9 in the fourth quarter, utilizing their press and a stingy defense in the half-court play.

Eight players contributed to the Knightettes 55 points. Natalie Hooss led the way with 15 points, Briley Milfield had seven and Megan Bess, Randie Wooldridge, Julie Schnurbusch and Erin Parks all had six points each.

Farmington, 3-1, will be back in action on Thursday when they will host district rival, Cape Central.

Fredericktown 62, Bismarck 38

BISMARCK - The Fredericktown Lady Cats paid an inter-conference visit to the Bismarck Lady Indians on Monday and they did not treat the Small-School conference team too kindly. Fredericktown won the game 62-38 to keep their undefeated streak alive.

Like a snowball rolling downhill, the Lady Cats lead kept growing each quarter as they were able to score at a greater pace than the Lady Indians.

Betsy Royer led the Lady Cats with 21 points, and Kylie Boswell had 18. Karah Faulkkner scored 12 points for Bismarck and Chelsey Politte had 10.

Fredericktown, 5-0, will host St. Vincent on Thursday for their next game. Bismarck, 1-3, will travel to Bunker on Thursday.

Potosi 57, De Soto 27

DE SOTO - The Potosi Lady Trojans took their 'A' game with them up Hwy 21 to play the De Soto Lady Dragons, and came away with a 57-27 defensive win.

"The girls really guarded well tonight. De Soto has some quick guards but we didn't let them penetrate, which is a big part of their game," said Potosi coach Matt Bradley. "Our press worked good, but our heavily guarding each shot, and not letting them have a clean shot at the basket, really made the difference."

On the offensive side, Tiffany Owens led the team in scoring with 17 points, Ashley Mims hit five threes for 15 points, and Julie McGirl had 10 points.

Potosi, 3-1, will play next on Friday, along with the boys team, in the "Hog Classic" at Valley on Friday.

Hillsboro 51, Central 44

PARK HILLS - The Central Lady Rebels had a hard time on their end of the court against the Hillsboro Lady Hawks. Defensively the Lady Rebels shone, but defense doesn't register on the scoreboard, and points do. Hisllsboro ended up with the most, 51-44.

"We were getting a lot more shots off than they were, but we only hit on 16 of our 51 attempts," said Central coach Craig Allen. "We forced 21 trunovers against them, but couldn't connect on our end."

Lindsey Harris hit seven of eight free throws and scored 13 points to lead the Lady Rebels in scoring. Allison Douglas, Jessica Moyer, and Kristina Holloway each had eight points. Central had few turnovers with Tausha Petty handling the ball well in bringing it downcourt for the Lady Rebels.

Central, 1-4, will be at Valle for an inter-conference game on Thursday.