Bloomfield

With such a young varsity basketball squad, Bernie High School coach Jason Long has endured a bit of a rollercoaster this season. In the Mules’ 10 victories, six have come by six points or less, while his team’s three defeats have each been double-digit losses.

DEXTER – The story of the Bloomfield High School varsity boy’s basketball season this winter has been a familiar refrain of limited offensive production. That continued on Tuesday, as the Wildcats were limited to single digits in the first three periods of their 47-37 loss to Dexter in the Bearcat Event Center.

Given its struggles offensively this basketball season, the fact that the Bloomfield varsity boys squad has battled its way to seven victories with 10 regular season games, as well as the Stoddard County Athletic Association Tournament and postseason, remaining, is fairly impressive.

High school basketball throughout Southeast Missouri takes a backward approach to scheduling each winter.

It's been a long while since I've got to enjoy as much holiday basketball as I have this year. For the first time in a while, if ever, I got to attend the Poplar Bluff Showdown, Lady Royals Christmas Classic and the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament all in one five-day stretch. While I last covered the Showdown and Lady Royals Christmas Classic in 2019, this was my first time at Bloomfield in at least a decade...

BLOOMFIELD — The top-seeded Puxico Indians came from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat the third-seeded Dexter Bearcats 64-60 in an overtime classic to win the championship title of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament on Monday night. It is the Indians’ first Bloomfield Christmas Tournament title since 1989...

BLOOMFIELD – December 7 is the famous “date that will live in infamy” for most Americans, however, in the Sindle household, no December date will ever be able to top Monday (December 30).

BLOOMFIELD – Second-year Bloomfield High School varsity boy’s basketball coach Ben Sindle has been seeking more offensive balance from his squad in the wake of losing senior starting forward Kayden Craft to an injury following the first game of this season.

BLOOMFIELD – Amid the blowout victories, the high-scoring offense, and the 30-plus point-scoring outings produced by senior guard Sammy Smith, fans can lose track of just how fundamentally sound the Class 1 No. 4-ranked Risco Tigers varsity boy’s basketball squad really is.

BLOOMFIELD — After five first-round games decided by double-digits at the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament on Thursday, the sixth game was hands-down the most exciting one of the day. The seventh-seeded Van Buren Bulldogs overcame a double-digit deficit in the second half to defeat the 10th-seeded Doniphan Dons 74-73 in overtime Thursday in the opening round of the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament...

BLOOMFIELD – There will be no shortage of star power in the finale of the opening day of the 68th annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament, as No. 6-seed Risco (7-1) will battle the host Wildcats (4-2) at 8 p.m. on Thursday. The Tigers, who are ranked No. 4 in Class 1, feature lanky senior guard Sammy Smith, who already has had games of 30 points (against Delta C-7) and 35 points (against Doniphan).

Even after suffering their first loss season, the Puxico Indians are still riding high to start this season of boys basketball. Puxico suffered it first loss of the season Saturday evening when it lost 58-50 to Thayer in a battle of state-ranked teams — the Indians are tied for fifth in the most recent Class 2 coaches poll, while Thayer was fifth in Class 3...

BLOOMFIELD – Statistically, the Bloomfield High School varsity boys basketball team is playing its best defense since the 2016-17 season, though, in fairness, it sure didn’t appear that way through 16 minutes of guarding Advance on Friday at the historic Bloomfield Gymnasium.

The Puxico Indians are the top seed at this year’s Bloomfield Christmas Tournament. The Indians are 5-0 this season and are winning their games by an average of 26.8 points. Three of Puxico's five wins are by 35 points or more. The East Prairie Eagles, who finished second at last year's Bloomfield Christmas Tournament, are the No. 2 seed, with Dexter, Bernie, Kennett, Risco, Van Buren and Richland rounding out the top eight seeds...

The Poplar Bluff girls basketball team held its home opener on Monday — and there wasn’t much to complain about for Lady Mules fans as the team took care of Bloomfield/Richland 66-20. “We played really good defense,” Poplar Bluff coach Soley Dugas said. “We came together and communicated really well. There are just a few little things that we’ve been trying to emphasize and it goes to show that once those little things come together good things happen as it did tonight.”...

NEW MADRID – The story of Campbell’s season-opening loss to this boy’s basketball season was a mixed one, as there were several positive things to take away from the Camels’ game against Overton (Tenn.) High School at the Riverbend Classic at New Madrid County Central High School. However, in the end, Campbell (0-1) fell 82-73, so there was also that.

Stoddard County volleyball players received a lion’s share of recognition with the release of postseason honors. Leading the way is a quartet of all-state players — the Advance trio of Addi Carlton, Emma Eilers and Brogan Hawkins, plus Bernie’s Bailey Henry — who helped their teams make deep postseason runs...