County affair

The Lady Bulldogs made short work of their first round opponent in the St. Joseph Invitational as they crushed Bigelow, 56-19, to advance to the semifinals.

After a Lady Panther free throw cut the St. Joseph lead to 4-3 early in the first period, the Lady Bulldogs would go on a 24-2 run covering most of the first half. The host team took a 32-6 lead going into intermission and then coasted home from there.

Katy Ashley Pauley and Brittany Hambuchen each hit a pair of 3's in the opening half while Stephanie Paladino connected on another. The Lady Bulldogs (11-4) finished the contest going 8-of-17 from downtown while Bigelow missed their only two attempts from 3-point range.

"All of our games have been close this year so it was nice to get one where we could breathe a little bit," St. Joseph coach Chris Kordsmeier said. "It was nice to get all our subs some playing time because they have work just as hard as the starters this year so it was good for them to get some action."

The Lady Bulldogs put the game away in the second period as they held Bigelow to just one point in the period while they added 16 to build a 26-point lead going into halftime.

"I thought we had pretty good balance tonight and we have been working on that," Kordsmeier said. "We established a good inside-outside game early and that really set the tempo for the rest of the game.

"We have been trying to have balance and we are going to have to continue to due that when we take on a tough Perryville team on Thursday."

Hambuchen led the way for St. Joseph as she finished with 10 points in the contest. Pauley ended with eight points while Stacia Gosnell, Lauren Bates and Paladino each added six.

"Not one person stood out to me tonight in the scoring department and that is what we want to have," Kordsmeier said. "It was a good overall team effort and I thought that all 13 players played very well throughout the entire ball game."

St. Joseph will take on Perryville at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in the semifinals.

"They play very good defense and they are extremely well coached," Kordsmeier said of Perryville. "They play very hard so we must be able to match their intensity when they get up and pressure us on offense."

VILONIA SENIOR BOYS

The Vilonia Eagles scored nine points in the opening minute as they coasted to a 60-22 victory over the Clinton Yellow Jackets at the St. Joseph Family Activities Center.

Kevin Wyzgoski and Dusty West each hit a 3 in the opening minute then West converted a three point play to put Vilonia in control early.

After a free throw put Clinton on the board, the Eagles (4-1) would score six unanswered to open up a 14-point first period lead.

"We got off to a hot start and I think that we shot the ball as well as we possible can in that first minute," Vilonia coach Lance Davis said. "We set the tone early and it was great to get all of the guys into the game and to get some valuable playing time."

Vilonia led 17-5 at the end of the first quarter, and then the Eagles would blow the game wide open in the second frame. West hit his second triple of the contest to start a 12-0 run that was capped by a James Cossey 3 with just under a minute remaining in the half with Vilonia up 31-8.

In the second half both teams emptied their benches, but the result was very similar to the first as Vilonia added to their advantage. The Eagles enforced the mercy rule in the opening moments of the fourth quarter then their reserves lit up the scoreboard.

Vilonia had 12 different players get into the score column as they outscored the Panthers 27-12 in the second half.

"Balance is always good to have when it comes to scoring and that is what we got tonight," Davis said. "We got a lot of open looks and the guys knocked them down when they were open. The guys who came off the bench played well I thought and they came in and hit some big shots for us as well."

Tyler Binam led the way for the Eagles as he finished with 14 points while West added 11 and Wyzgoski finished with seven in the contest.

Vilonia will take either Wonderview or Bigelow Thursday at 6:15 p.m.

"We are going to be back here on Thursday and it is going to be a tough game whoever we play," Davis said. "Hopefully we can start like we did today because we have not been starting real well the last couple of ball games."

VILONIA SENIOR GIRLS

The Lady Eagles started off slow but a 14-0 run to close the first half paved the way as Vilonia took out Clinton 64-29 in the opening round of the St. Joseph Invitational.

Vilonia held a two-point lead after the first period of play after they opened the contest by scoring the first seven points of the game.

Clinton's Chelsea Bostwick connected on a 3 from the top of the key to cut the Vilonia lead to 16-13 with 5:46 left in the first half, but that is when the Eagles would take over the game for good.

Kayla Hawkins hit a pair of mid-range jump shots to start the run while Sarah Rigby scored five and Tiffany Bonds drained a 3 in the final minutes of the half.

"I thought we started off pretty ragged and we had seven turnovers in the first quarter," Vilonia coach Alvin Riley said. "We settled down midway through the second quarter but we have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball, especially early in ball games."

Vilonia opened up a 21-point lead at the end of the third quarter before emptying the bench in the final frame.

"It was good to get everyone some playing time," Riley said. "The ones who came off the bench did a good job of both handling the ball and shooting the basketball in time they were in the game."

Hawkins led the way for Vilonia as she finished with 12 points while Constance Alcon added 11 and Bonds and Rigby each added eight.

"Kayla has been a solid player all year long for us and she was hitting those short jump shots tonight," Riley said. "I expect here to keep up that kind of effort for the rest of the year and we are going to need that from her."

Vilonia will take on Marshall at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

"They have a good, young team that is athletic," Riley said. "They have two real good sophomores but hopefully we get off to a better start than we did tonight."