DECATUR -- With Winter Storm Roland beginning to intensify outside, the Decatur Lady Bulldogs were just beginning what would be their final basketball contest of the 2020-21 season when they hosted the Lady Bobcats from Flippin on Feb. 9.
In the comfort of Peterson Gym in Decatur, the seven-member Lady Bulldog team began a long 32-minute uphill fight with the first-place Lady Bobcats who came into the Tuesday contest undefeated.
At the six-minute mark in the first quarter, Leah Still hit a set of free throws for the first points of the night for the Lady Bobcats. Two minutes later, Lady Bulldog Anabelle Schopper landed a field goal for Decatur's first points of the contest. Flippin's defense held Decatur to only six points for the first quarter, while extending its lead with 23 points to lead the game by the end of the quarter, 23-6.
Flippin continued to amass a sizable lead over the Lady Bulldogs, 3-8, to take a 46-14 deficit into the halftime break.
Despite fatigue beginning to set in, the Decatur Lady Bulldog defense continued to keep pace with the Lady Bobcats and by the end of the fourth quarter allowed only nine points. But Decatur was never able to capitalize on the advantage and the contest ended with the Flippin Lady Bobcats taking the conference win, 72-29, over the Decatur Lady Bulldogs.
Only two Lady Bulldogs were able to score points on the night. Leading the scoring was Anabelle Schopper with 20 points, followed by Abigail Schopper with nine.
On the Flippin Lady Bobcat side, three players were in double figures, Ella Alexander with 24 points, followed by Wise with 17 and Samantha Greenhaw with 11. Rounding out the offensive effort were Allie Downs with nine, Leah Still with six, Madelyn Lindsey, Debra Rackley and Maelee Benedict each with two.