Stories from Wednesday, February 17, 2016

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Nine players scored and four reached double figures as the Neelvyille girls basketball team cruised to a 79-46 victory over Cape Central Monday. J'Kayla Fowler finished with 14 points to lead all scorers. The Neelyville sophomore scored eight points in the first quarter and 13 in the first half for the Lady Tigers (20-4), who led 47-29 at the break...

MILLINGTON, Tenn. -- Three Rivers has already gotten in more baseball than it did the entire first month of the season last year. The Raiders, who got snowed and rained out throughout February last year, opened up their season Sunday with a pair of losses to Dyersburg State and Johnson County before splitting with Williams Baptist in a Monday doubleheader...

Down 17 points midway through the third quarter to conference and district rival Jackson, the Poplar Bluff Mules finally figured things out Monday night. A 28-5 run turned the tables before Marcedus Leech's record-tying 3 put the Mules ahead for good late in a 69-65 comeback win at Peters Gym...

DEXTER -- Dexter girls basketball coach Chad Allen has the luxury of having a surplus of offensive weapons on his state-ranked squad this season. The Bearcats displayed its full arsenal of offense Monday night as six players calculated at least nine points in beating visiting Poplar Bluff 83-52...

As far as the Raiders are concerned, Monday was not their last home game of the season. The real final home game of the season, the true final home game of the season, is the District IV championship. "We've got one more," Three Rivers sophomore Justas Furmanavicius said. "We don't look too far, but we have a goal to go to the national tournament."...

The Raiders have been able to get outside so far this winter ... a lot. Unlike last year when winter snowstorms and then spring rains canceled pretty much the entire first month of the season, the weather has cooperated enough through early February that the Three Rivers baseball team is roughly three weeks ahead of last year as far as early progress goes...

The Lady Raiders spent a couple hours in practice and in the locker room talking about what it takes to get over those hurdles when you've only got seven kids. In Saturday's loss to Mineral Area, they held their own for 35 minutes only to have their legs give out at the end for an eventual 11-point loss...