Taydrianna Barnett and Karris Allen led the way for the Sikeston Lady Bulldogs in Monday’s matchup against New Madrid County Central. Barnett scored 17 points, and Allen had 10 but wound up being too little, as the Lady Eagles defeated Sikeston 59-54. Going into halftime down six points, the Lady Bulldogs did battle back, scoring 17 points in the third period to cut the NMCC lead to four heading into the fourth quarter. In the end, though, NMCC’s Ayannah Ruff proved to be too much of a scoring threat. Ruff finished with 29 points — 15 in the second half — and was one of two Lady Eagles to finish in double-figures. Alexis Phillips finished with 10. “I feel like we played with the intensity we lacked last week,” Sikeston head coach Alisha Wills said. “I was still not happy with our ineffective effort on the boards. That continues to be a thorn in our side. We may not have marked up the ‘W,’ but we had some bigger achievements by some girls that I feel like will eventually be game changers for us. “Girls were playing our of normal positions tonight and girls coming off the bench to help give minutes. It seems with each game going forward we continue to find an identity and defining everyone’s roles more clearly.” Sikeston 11 12 17 14 — 54 NMCC 16 13 13 15 — 59 SIKESTON (54) — Taydrianna Barnett 17, Karris Allen 10, Sydney Stark 8, Amyari Blissett 8, Zaria Blissett 4, Armani Hodges 4, Derisha Wells 3. FG 23, FT 4-10, F 19. (3-pointers: Stark 2, Allen 2. Fouled out: Allen) NMCC (59) — Ayannah Ruff 29, Alexis Phillips 10, Shakyra Wright 7, Mastajah Walker 5, Alivia Hartman 4, Kiara Brown 2, Allisia Hester 2. FG 14, FT 9-20, F 13. (3-pointers: Wright, Ruff. Fouled out: none)