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Day: March 16, 2021

PREP HOOPS: Logan Applegate, Lacy Stokes named players of the year by 4-States Basketball Coaches Association

Posted on by Jason Peake

Nevada’s Logan Applegate and Mount Vernon’s Lacy Stokes have been recognized as the area’s prep basketball players of the year by the 4-States Basketball Coaches Association.

A high-scoring senior shooting guard, Applegate led Nevada to the quarterfinal round of the Class 5 state tournament.

Logan Applegate of Nevada.
Lacy Stokes of Mount Vernon.

The 6-foot-1 Applegate averaged 23 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2.3 steals a game. Applegate hit 107 3-pointers this season. He made 58.5 percent of his 2-point field goal attempts, 37 percent of his 3-point attempts and 77.5 percent at the charity stripe.

A do-it-all senior point guard who has signed with Missouri Southern, the 5-4 Stokes has directed the Mountaineers to the Class 4 semifinals. 

Stokes is currently averaging 25.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 6.2 steals and 5.1 assists per game. She’s shooting 51 percent from the floor and 83 percent from the foul line for Grant Berendt’s 27-3 Mountaineers, who meet Vashon (17-1) at 6 on Friday night at JQH Arena. 

The entire boys and girls teams, which were voted on by area coaches, are listed below. 

After releasing the all-area teams, Webb City boys basketball coach Jason Horn told SoMo Sports that all-area team pictures will not be taken this year due to COVID.

 

4-STATES BASKETBALL COACHES ASSOCIATION

BOYS ALL-AREA TEAM 

Player of the Year: Logan Applegate, Nevada

 

FIRST TEAM

Nickhai Howard, Webb City  (Sr.)

Landon Austin, Neosho (Sr.)

Javon Grant, Pittsburg (Sr.)

Connor Killion, East Newton (Sr.)

Kyson Lahman, East Newton (Sr.)

Mason Ballay, Mount Vernon (Sr.)

Lane Dunlap, Golden City (Sr.)

Max Schnelle, Lockwood (Sr.)

Always Wright, Joplin (Jr.)

Brett Sarwinski, Galena (Jr.)

 

SECOND TEAM

Dhruv Gheewala, Thomas Jefferson (Sr.)

Logan McNeley, Nevada (Sr.)

Alex Baker, Carl Junction (Sr.)

Kyle Renkoski, Pierce City (Sr.)

Cohl Vaden, Webb City (Jr.)

Jaiden Carrasquillo, Verona (Jr.)

Miller Long, College Heights (Jr.)

Jordan Fudge, Frontenac (Jr.)

Tyler Little, Galena (So.)

Max Templeman, Carthage (So.)

All Wright, Joplin (Fr.)

www.somo-sports.com

 

GIRLS ALL-AREA TEAM

Player of the Year: Lacy Stokes, Mount Vernon

 

FIRST TEAM

Paige Bauer, Verona (Sr.)

Annette Ramirez, Sarcoxie (Sr.)

Destiny Buerge, Carl Junction (So.)

Aliya Grotjohn, Seneca (Jr.)

Jaydee Duda, Webb City (Sr.)

Hailey Fullerton, Carthage (Sr.)

Ellie Johnston, Mount Vernon (Sr.)

Kayleigh Teeter, McAuley Catholic (Jr.)

Grace Bishop, College Heights (Sr.)

Marlie Wright, Greenfield (So.)

 

SECOND TEAM

Tylin Heathman, Nevada (Sr.)

Olivia Hixson, Neosho (Sr.)

Alexis Durman, Jasper (Sr.)

Kianna Yates, Carthage (So.)

Kennedy DeRuy, McAuley Catholic (Jr.)

Taaron Drake, Diamond (Fr.)

Elizabeth Martin, Aurora (Sr.)

Sydney Stamps, Thomas Jefferson (Sr.)

Jessa Hylton, Carl Junction (Jr.)

Sydney Killion, McDonald County (Sr.)

Sierra Kimbrough, Webb City (Sr.)

Emma Floyd, Joplin (Jr.)

 

PREP BASEBALL: Webb City hosts Carl Junction, Republic in jamboree to prepare for upcoming baseball season

Posted on by Lucas Davis

WEBB CITY, Mo. — Prep baseball officially kicked off in the Joplin area on Monday with Webb City hosting Carl Junction and Republic in a jamboree.

“They’re excited,” Webb City coach Flave Darnell said when asked about getting time on the field in preparation for the upcoming season. “We have a senior-laden team, we have seven seniors, and I am excited for them.”

“We were talking about it with some of them and I told them the last time I was able to throw (batting practice) to them before a game was the district championship in 2019,” Carl Junction coach Jake Stevenson said. “We’re excited to get back out here today. “

Darnell was hired to take the helm of the Cardinals’ baseball program prior to the start of the 2020 season. Unfortunately, with everyone still figuring out how to deal with the COVID pandemic, the spring sports season was canceled. A year later, Darnell is excited to get his debut season with Webb City underway.

“It’s just good to be back on the field,” Darnell said. “Having that year off was disappointing. We were fortunate to have a really good summer. So, I’ve been around these guys a lot. … It’s great to be out there competing against another team. As a team, we have had a couple good weeks of practice. We have a few things we could improve on, but (today) was good.”

With all of the inclement weather in the area over the last few days, Webb City was able to put their new turf (installed last season) at Chuck Barnes Field to the test. The results were very favorable. 

“It’s great,” Darnell said with a smile. “We’ve had all this rain recently and everyone said ‘I guess we’re playing?’ I said, ‘Well, yeah, we are.’ It is awesome when you have turf like this because I don’t have to check the weather nearly as much. It’s great to be out here.”

Of course, the final score to the four-inning games between the Cardinals, Tigers and Bulldogs are irrelevant. What all the coaches are looking for most are the fundamentals of the game being executed properly.

“We threw three guys (in the first game) and we are going to throw three guys in the next game,” Darnell said. “We want to see our pitchers throw strikes. That is the No. 1 thing, we want to see our guys compete in the zone. We feel like we have a chance to be pretty athletic on defense. The main thing coming into something like this is how are our pitchers going to throw.” 

“We just want to see the things we’ve been working on in practice transition into game situations,” Stevenson said. “We want to see guys go out and compete. When the ball is hit to them, make the play. … There is a lot we can work on, so we’re just ready to make the most of it.”

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