PREP ROUNDUP: Finals are set for OFC Tournament; Lady Mules beat Campbell

PIEDMONT — The finals are set for the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament.

On the boys side, top-seeded Puxico and third-seeded Twin Rivers will meet for the OFC tourney title after both won their semifinal contests Monday at Clearwater High School.

Meanwhile on the girls side over at Greenville, the top-seeded Doniphan Donettes will take on No. 2 Neelyville for the tournament championship.

Both championship games will be played Friday night at the Libla Family Sports Complex on the campus of Three Rivers College, with the girls tipping off at 6:30 p.m. and the boys to follow at 8 p.m.

Monday's losers will head back to Clearwater High School on Thursday for the third-place contests.

BOYS

Puxico 79, Doniphan 50

In Monday's first semifinal, the top-seeded Indians led 23-11 after the opening period and 38-20 at halftime on the way to another big win.

Landan Burchard paced Puxico with 20 points, while Jett Hancock added 18, Scyler Zimmerman had 17 and Mason Parsley finished with nine.

Emmitt Jones led the Dons with 16 points, while Corey Hagood and Tyler Lowery each had 10 and Lansing Todd ended up with eight.

Twin Rivers 68, Neelyville 54

In Monday's other boys semifinal, the third-seeded Royals pulled off a minor upset as they pulled away in the final period against the No. 2 Tigers.

Twin Rivers led 18-13 after the opening period, was ahead 30-27 at the intermission and 45-42 at the start of the fourth quarter, but outscored the Tigers 23-12 in the final eight minutes of the game to earn the win.

Jake Hester paced the Royals with 18 points, while teammate Luke Hester added 16.

GIRLS

Doniphan 48, Twin Rivers 10

At Greenville, the Donettes led just 6-3 after the opening period of the first girls semifinal, but clamped down on defense and never looked back.

The Donettes dominated the second quarter to take a 24-6 lead to the locker room, then shut out the Lady Royals from the field in the third quarter and led 43-7 going to the final period.

Neelyville 92, East Carter 68

In the other girls semifinal, the second-seeded Lady Tigers used a big third quarter to take control of a close game.

Neelyville led 23-19 after one quarter and 45-38 at the intermission, but outscored the Lady Redbirds 28-15 in the third quarter to lead 73-53 at the start of the final period.

REGULAR SEASON

Poplar Bluff 69, Campbell 31

At Campbell, the Lady Mules improved to 12-9 on the season with a dominating defensive effort against the host Lady Camels.

“It feels pretty good hopefully we can keep stacking some wins here to help build our confidence going into postseason play,” Poplar Bluff coach Soley Dugas said.

Poplar Bluff led 25-18 after the first period and pushed its lead to 40-29 by halftime. However, the Lady Mules limited Campbell to just two free throws in the third period to lead 69-31 by the start of the fourth quarter.

Poplar Bluff allowed just two second-half field goals to the Lady Camels.

Jadyn Brandon had a huge game with 27 points, while Ireland Gowen added 16 and Addy Valenzuela had 12.

Kaitlyn Weidenbenner led Campbell with 12 points, while Preslei Tate added 10 and Gabbie Townsend had eight.