Lady Bulldogs Defend the Fieldhouse vs State Ranked Hillcrest

Senior guard Mariah Watkins

January 9th, 2026

While it was a sweep of the Hillcrest Hornets for the Lady Bulldogs last night at the Rolla Fieldhouse, it probably can’t be described as a clean sweep. State-ranked Hillcrest, a former Ozark Conference opponent, brought their aggressive, full-court style of play in an effort to create chaos - but the Lady Bulldogs were ready and willing to handle the challenge.

The Lady Bulldogs proved once again that they can win in a variety of ways as they took down the #10 ranked team in Class 5 last night, 59-50, leading wire to wire.The Lady Bulldogs, fresh off a 2nd place finish in the Mitch & Terisa Esquibel Girls Holiday Tournament, had struggled in their last two games by getting off to a slow start.  If the Hornets thought they were going to keep that trend going and bring some shock in awe to get the Lady Bulldogs out of their game, 5’8” Jr All-State guard, Rylee Dodson had other plans.

Dodson started the game with back-to-back 3 pointers which sparked the Lady Bulldog pressure defense and forced Hillcrest to use an early timeout just barely one minute into the game.. After the explosive start by the Lady Bulldogs where they jumped out to a double digit lead, the Hornets settled down and began to grind out the game. 

Coach Parker was happy to put an end to the slow starts. “I thought we did a better job coming out of the gates ready to play. The past few games we have had a slow start spotting teams with too many points and having to play catch up.”

Rolla’s first quarter was the difference in the ball game, out-scoring Hillcrest, 23-16. For the final 3 quarters of play, the Lady Bulldogs only outscored Hillcrest by 4 points, 36-34. Once the Hillcrest defense settled in, they forced 19 turnovers from the young Lady Bulldogs. With only one senior, 5’8” All-District guard Mariah Watkins, and only one junior, Dodson, the rest of the team is made up of sophomores and freshmen.

When asked about the turnovers, Head Coach Charley Parker responded, “We need to do a better job of cleaning up our game. We got too loose, making silly turnovers trying to do too much.”

Shooting Highs and Lows

The Lady Bulldogs took advantage of the scrambling Hornets defense and kept the ball moving to find open looks from behind the arc. Rolla shot a blistering 50% (7-14) from 3-point land with Dodson leading they way going 5-7 from deep including 3 in the 1st quarter.

Overall, the Lady Bulldogs shot 43% from the floor while holding the Hornets to 28% shooting. The Rolla defense only forced 12 TOs, but was effective in the defensive rotation to contest shots. With those missed, the Lady Bulldogs owned the board out-rebounding them 42-31, limiting the second chance opportunities.

But it was on the Free Throw line where the Lady Bulldogs struggled, Only shooting 50% from the line for the game and going 6-11 in the final quarter as they were closing out the game. In a game that Coach Parker was pleased with the overall effort, he let his frustration show on this topic, “We also have to do a better job from the free throw line. Shooting 50% is unacceptable.”

Battling Foul Trouble

Midway through the first quarter, 5’10 Fr forward,Rylee Anderson, headed to the bench with 2 early fouls. That forced Rolla into playing 4 guards which proved to be a challenge to stop the 6’” Jr forward for Hillcrest, Lillie Moore.

Moore used her size and footwork to attack from the high post to keep her team in the game. She finished with 20 points going 11-12 from the line. Much of that was at the expense of our post players. In the 4th quarter, 5’10” So forward, Madison Hutton was forced to sit with her 4th foul.

The Wrap Up

Dodson led the Lady Bulldogs with 19pts, going 5-7 from 3 and pulled down 8 boards, Watkins finished with 17pts going 4-5 from the FT line. While 5’10” Fr guard, Belle Campbell had a slower than usual shooting night finishing with 1 FG, she was in full control of the boards pulling down 16 rebounds!

As always, the young bench for the Lady Bulldogs continues to gain confidence as the season progresses.  In this game, 5’7” Fr guard, Addy Deremo, came off the bench for a spark on both ends of the court. Finishing with 7 points, while focusing on the “one more” pass to find open teammates as well as getting her hands in the passing lane with several deflections to slow down the Hornet offense.

Coach Parker summed it up best with this closing statement, “I am proud of our fight and knocking off a state ranked time with our young kids is a good boost for our young program.”

JV Rolls to a 59-25 Victory

The Lady Bulldogs JV team set the tone for the night as they swarmed the Hornets in the first half forcing turnover after turnover and converted them to layups leading to a 21-4 dismantling in the first quarter, forcing Hillcrest to use two timeouts in the opening period. 

While the offensive production may have slowed down in the 2nd quarter as Rolla only tallied 11 points, their defense did not let up. They held the Hornets to only 2 free throws in the second period to take a 22-6 lead into halftime.

The Lady Bulldogs were able to get the turbo clock running in the final stanza with a 30 point lead. Leading the way for the Lady Bulldogs was 5’10” So forward Riley Hollis, who was virtually unstoppable inside on her way to a game high 20 points. Hollis was supported by 5’5” Fr guard, Grace Fontenot, who used her quickness and ball-hawk ability to pressure the Hillcrest guard and put up 10 points. Coming off of the bench, 5’6” Fr guard Sophie Blakely, added 9 points.

UP NEXT:

On the road Monday, January 12th to take on Logan Rogersville (11-3)

• Start Time: JV at 6pm, V scheduled for 7:30

• Logan Rogersville is currently ranked  #4 in Class 4

• Last Game: At home vs Helias Catholic on Jan. 8th winning 67-57

  • Rolla defeated Helias 52-28 in the season opener on Nov. 21 as part of the Blue Fish Tip-Off

• Both team beat Nixa

  • Logan Rogersville 56-48 at Pink & White on Dec. 29th

  • Rolla 66-65 at home on Dec. 15th

• Victories over teams with winning record

  • Skyline, Branson, Tipton, Miller, Nixa

• Last meeting was in 2022 with Rolla winning 76-50

STATS Rolla 59, Hillcrest 50

The individual scoring (FG-FT-TP):

Hillcrest (8-5): S. Johnson 6-0-6, Jones 2-0-2, Ser. Johnson 10-3-13, Moore 9-11-20, Cam. Summers 3-0-3, Gerald 5-1-6

Rolla (9-3): Hutton 4-2-6, Dodson 19-0-19, Watkins 13-4-17, Deremo 7-0-7, Campbell 2-4-6, Anderson 2-2-4

The score by periods:

TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 F

Hillcrest 16 13 9 12 50

Rolla 23 14 9 13 59

STATS Rolla JV 59, Hillcrest JV 25

The individual scoring (FG-FT-TP):

Hillcrest JV: Kellner 3-0-6, Witt 7-1-8, Adams 0-1-1, Nelson 3-0-3, Beal 3-2-5, Henderson 2-0-2

Rolla JV(10-0): Martia 2-0-2, Speed 4-0-4, Fleming 0-1-1, Blakely 8-1-9, 8-2-10, Moore 5-1-6, Hollis 16-4-20, Wilson 5-2-7

The score by periods:

TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 F

Hillcrest JV 4 2 11 8 25

Rolla JV 21 11 17 19 59