Notre Dame girls will begin district play without point guard Powers

The path through the Class 4 District 1 playoffs just got a little more difficult for the Notre Dame girls basketball team.

The Bulldogs (20-5), who defeated Poplar Bluff 54-48 Friday night, will be without starting point guard Karsen Powers for the forseeable future. Powers, a junior, was admitted to St. Louis Children's Hospital last week with a staph infection.

Bulldogs coach Renee Peters was hoping Powers would return home by Sunday.

"Right now, we're just praying for her," Peters said.

Powers is a key element in the Bulldogs' attack. While not a proficient scorer, she runs the offense well and is a pesky defender, her steals often sparking Notre Dame's vaunted transition game.

"We've had others step up all year," Peters said. "They'll have to do that again."

Notre Dame meets Central (12-13) in one district semifinal today at 7:30 p.m. in Dexter, Mo. The two teams met Jan. 29 at the Show Me Center, an easy 62-35 Bulldogs victory.

"We're going to have to shoot the ball well," Peters said. "We have to contain [Alayah] Cooper-Johnson, box out and run the floor."

Cooper-Johnson has been a one-person wrecking crew for Central all year, though the Tigers have become a little more balanced scoring-wise as the season has progressed. The senior forward had 19 points in the team's first meeting and 22 points (with 20 rebounds) in the Tigers' 49-36 district-opening victory over Sikeston on Saturday.

"It was a little sloppy," Central coach Sherri Sherrill said about the Tigers' win over Sikeston. "We're not going to be able to do that against Notre Dame. They're too good of a team."

Central 3-0 vs. ND boys

The Notre Dame boys basketball team has played Central three times this season, and lost all three.

Will four be the charm?

The Bulldogs (15-11) were runaway 82-44 victors over Perryville in their Class 4 Division 1 opener Saturday in Dexter, jumping to a 52-23 halftime lead and never letting up against the Pirates.

"They've beaten us three times this year," Notre Dame coach Kevin Roberts said about the Tigers (15-10). "They have our number. We have to do something different. Out intensity level has to be there."

The Bulldogs were certainly intense Saturday, an efficient offense yielding 11 3-pointers, including four by sophomore guard Grant Ressel and three from senior guard Cody DeBrock.

"We'll need that effort again -- maybe a little more," Ressel said Saturday. "It'll be tough, but we think we can play with them."

Wildcats foiled by SCC

The Leopold boys basketball team set a school record with 24 wins this season.

Here's guessing they would have traded any one of them for a victory this past Friday night.

The Wildcats fell to Scott County Central 64-58 in the Class 1 District 2 title game, only their third loss of the season. Leopold was seeking its first district title.

"There's not much you can say after that," Leopold coach Andy Beck said after the loss. "That group of seniors, they don't want to think about it now, but they had a heck of a year. They had the best year in Leopold history. That's something they can still be proud of. They don't want to hear that right now. There wasn't a whole lot to say. You tell them you love them. You tell them they did a good job and went down swinging. It just wasn't meant to be."

Guard Kyle Stroder was one of seven seniors on the Wildcats roster who emerged from a disappointed locker room intent on thanking the Leopold fans for their support during this record-setting season.

"I think we just weren't aggressive enough," he eventually said. "I think we were ready tonight, but we just didn't execute well enough. [Scott County Central] deserved to win."

-- From staff reports