Purdy too much for Exeter

In an early season battle for Barry County bragging rights, the Purdy Lady Eagles defeated the Exeter Lady Tigers 52-27 in girls basketball action last Tuesday night at the O'Reilly Family Event Center on the campus of Drury University in Springfield.

"I thought we came out flat," said Purdy coach Grant Young. "We have a lot of new faces, and we are still learning to play together. I was proud of my girls' effort tonight. We were able to get some good looks at the basket in the post."

Purdy led 12-6 after one quarter of play and then began to assert itself in the second period as the Lady Eagles raced out to a 29-12 halftime advantage.

Exeter's problems were very simple to dissect.

"Effort. We need to play with more effort if we want to get better this season," said Exeter coach Jason Cole. "Outside of our turnovers in the first quarter, we were able to get the shots we wanted. We stopped attacking in the second half, and Purdy was able to go on a run to put the game away."

Purdy dominated the boards, outrebounding the Lady Tigers 40 to 22. Of Purdy's 40 rebounds, 20 of them were offensive and led to 12 second-chance points.

"The great thing about tonight is we won the game, and we saw areas in which we have to improve," said Young. "We need to work on being more consistent. It was a good win."

Purdy was led in scoring by Addy Roller with 19 points.

Also scoring for the Lady Eagles were: Taylor Moller and Katie Hughes, 8 points each; Mattie White, 6 points; Billie House, 5 points; Rachael Neill, 4 points; and Kat Hughes, 2 points.

Abby Scott recorded 13 points to pace the Lady Tigers.

Also scoring for Exeter were: Bailey Bowman, 5 points; Sara Staples, 3 points; Baillie O'Neill and Hannah Henson, 2 points apiece; and Sydney Newman and Logan Senters, 1 point each.