BEARCATS OPEN 3A-4 PLAY WITH BLOWOUT WIN

The Booneville Bearcats saw a first quarter lead of 11 shrink to as few as four but scored the final basket of the first half and extended it to a run of 17-0 and cruised to a 66-36 win in their Conference 3A-4 opener Tuesday.

The second half began with a Jace Washburn basket. Washburn also had a pair of free throws after five straight points from Aiden Carter and a pair of 3s from Noah Harrel pushed the lead to 41-21.

Harrel, who had scored the final first half points to make it 27-21, would lead all players with 18 points to go with six rebounds.

Carter (shown) would finish with 13 points, three steals, and three assists. Washburn would finish with 10 points and a game high 13 rebounds.

With the lead remaining around 20, Dakota Mattson would become the fourth Bearcat with a double-digit scoring night with a 3 that made it 59-36 with 1:56 to play.

The lead grew to the sportsmanship level in the final half minute on a Rylie Swint basket that came on an assist from Sonny Whitaker.

The Bearcats (3-3, 1-0) never trailed but it was 7-5 with 3:54 to play in the opening quarter. Then a pair of Wesley Fonseca free throws started a 9-0 run to end the quarter.

Cedarville cut the lead back to a single digit and eventually whittled it to 25-21 42 seconds before halftime. Harrel scored to make it 27-21 at the half.

The Bearcats are at home once more on Friday taking on Subiaco on a night that includes a JV game and a junior high game.

Cedarville 55 Lady Bearcats 44

The Lady Bearcats got off to a miserable start as Cedarville led 8-0 in just three minutes to force a time out.

The Lady Pirates would actually score again before Tempi Terry got the Lady Bearcats (4-6, 0-1) on the board but the deficit would grow to 23-3 at the end of the first quarter.

The Lady Pirates actually were up 35-7 with 3:53 left in the first half.

The Lady Bearcats then cut the deficit in half with 14 straight, capped by a Haylee Taylor 3 with 7:08 to play in the third quarter.

By the 2:27 mark of the third quarter Angie Brown, Anna Ferguson, Terry and Taylor had again scored and the Lady Pirate lead was one of only nine at 38-29.

However, it was back to 16 by the end of the quarter and the Lady Bearcats managed to only get within nine once more.

The Lady Bearcats do not play again until next Tuesday at Cossatot River, when both the junior high and senior high Bearcats will also play.