Doni Everts' big night and timely 3-point shooting in the third quarter helped the Poplar Bluff Mules beat Butler County rival Twin Rivers 58-48 Saturday at the Senior High Gym.
Everts scored a season-best 23 points with 15 coming in a tightly contested first half.
"I knew she would be the one that they would have a hard time with especially if they were going to deny Kiley (Bess) and chase Kiley around. That was their gameplan," Poplar Bluff coach John David Pattillo said.
Bess scored a season-low 10 points but Everts picked up the scoring for the Mules (12-6).
"We did a good job on Bess obviously in the first half. She had three points," Twin Rivers coach Kelly Westerfield said. "We didn't do a good job on Everts, so we talked about some things we needed to do to change with her (at halftime). I told them to expect more screens for Bess. It just took us awhile to get used to what they were doing, but then in return we let them have some buckets. We were going down and turning it over or (taking a) quick shot. We weren't working the ball as well as we did in the first half. We just didn't get any of those runs where we got steals and some buckets that obviously when that happens helps us."
The Mules made four 3-pointers in the third quarter to extend their two-point halftime lead to as many as nine. They didn't commit a turnover in the quarter after 11 in the first half.
"Tonight the big thing was we made five open 3s," Pattillo said. "We're getting those shots and our young girls hadn't been hitting them. I told them they've just got to keep working at it. I think Katie (Pattillo) had two 3s. Shelby (Sievers) had a couple of 3s. Hannah (Corcimiglia) had one."
Bess began to contribute more offensively in the third quarter. She scored five points in the quarter and seven of her 10 in the second half.
Sievers' first 3-pointer broke a 27-all tie, Bess scored inside, and Corcimiglia's 3 gave the Mules a 35-27 lead. Bess sandwiched a three-point play between 3-pointers by the Royals' Brooke Blume and Abey Hester, slicing Poplar Bluff's led to five.
Katie Pattillo responded with her second 3-pointer of the game, extending the Mules' lead back to 41-33. Twin Rivers kept pace behind a free throw and a 3-pointer by Katelyn South, who led all scorers with 27 points. But Sievers, who finished with 10 points, banked in a 3-pointer in the closing seconds, giving the Mules a 46-37 lead entering the final quarter.
The Mules finished off Twin Rivers in the fourth, slowing the pace and sinking 8 of 12 free throws.
"We've had probably five or six games like that this year where we've handled ourselves (late in games) for the most part pretty well," Coach Pattillo said. "These end-of-the-game situations are just helping us grow a little bit and get better."
The Mules shot out to an 8-1 lead in the first quarter and led 15-7 entering the second. They made 6 of 11 shots in the first quarter, while Twin Rivers went 3 of 8.
Twin Rivers (12-7) opened the second quarter with an 8-0 run to take a 15-14 lead, but the Mules scored the next seven points to retake the lead.
The Royals went back on top on a 3-pointer by Catey Hester, a layup by Katie Deken and a 3-pointer by South, whose basket gave Twin Rivers a 23-21 lead with 2:15 left in the half.
Everts tied the score with 1:47 to go and put the Mules ahead 25-23 at halftime.
Poplar Bluff won the junior varsity game 39-27.