Roundup: Notre Dame rolls Cape Central in SEMO Conference tournament

The Notre Dame Bulldogs girls basketball team defeated the Cape Central Tigers 71-42 in the first round of the girls SEMO Conference Tournament on Monday night at Notre Dame Regional High School.

Cape Central opened the game with a flurry on defense, as the full-court press worked for the Tigers. Notre Dame adjusted and took a 15-11 lead, forcing Cape into a timeout. The Bulldogs never gave up the lead and were ahead of the Tigers 21-13 after one.

Notre Dame head coach Kirk Boeller said he was very pleased with how the season's first game went.

“I've been waiting since the beginning of November for that first game, just to get it out of the way, and I had a couple of nervous girls there tonight. It was nice to see what we're going to look like. We can do a lot better job of blocking out,” Boeller said. “It's the first game of the season, we’re working on some of those fundamental things. But from start to finish, I thought the girls played incredibly hard. I thought our defense at times was tough, but as the season goes along we'll get better.”

Notre Dame stepped up on defense in the second quarter and third quarters, holding the Tigers to just 21 points across the two quarters while scoring 32. The Bulldogs have much more experience as a group and they proved so with their communication and fundamentals.

Boeller commended the Cape defense and said his team had to work to score their points with four Bulldogs in double figures.

“That’s an awesome thing to see. Those weren't easy buckets either, I thought that Central was all over us defensively. They did a good job of messing up our guards and getting balls out of hands,” Boeller said. “To go out and have four girls with 10 or more points, and two of those being freshmen and sophomores, who have never seen varsity minutes. It’s just so encouraging and I'm excited for them, they can go home and say, ‘We did really good things together.’ That’s a scary team.”

Notre Dame cruised through the fourth quarter to the victory. The Bulldogs move on to take on the Dexter Bearcats on Thursday at 8 p.m. in the semifinals.

Girls Basketball Around Southeast Missouri

The Meadow Heights Panthers defeated the Scott City Rams 43-40. Lilyan Landis led the Rams with 18 points in the loss. Meadow Heights next hosts Bloomfield with Richland on Thursday at 6 p.m. while the Rams host Charleston on Thursday at 6 p.m.

The Chaffee Red Devils defeated the Perryville Pirates 60-47. Aby Amberger led the Pirates with 24 points in the contest. Chaffee next hosts Advance with Bell City on Thursday at 6 p.m. while Perryville travels to Scott City next Monday at 6 p.m.

The Delta Bobcats defeated the Oak Ridge Blue Jays 73-43. Madyson Ruehling and Kenadie Ward led the Blue Jays with 15 and 10 points, respectively. Delta next travels to East Prairie on Thursday at 6 p.m. while Oak Ridge hosts Grandview (Hillsboro) on Thursday at 7:15 p.m.