Last week proved to be a very productive one for Jeff Schultz’s Belle Tigers.

Opening 2026 with a 73-40 win at New Bloomfield last Monday night, Belle went on to dispatch Iberia 71-46 in a game last Tuesday night that was moved to Bland Middle School due to a water main break impacting the city of Belle.

Posting an 83-29 home victory last Thursday night in a Highway 89 showdown against Chamois’ Pirates, Belle went for their fourth win in as many games Friday night on the road in Mokane against South Callaway’s Bulldogs.

Trailing for all of 90 seconds, Belle ended the first quarter on a 12-2 run for a 12-5 advantage before going on to post a 56-38 victory over the host Bulldogs running their win streak to five games and bumping their win total into double digits at 10-2.

“It was a great week for us,” Schultz said. “Our guys did everything we asked them to do and we did it in four different gyms even with two of those games being home ones for us.”

Seeing their largest lead of the first half at 13 by a score of 18-5 with 6:32 until halftime, Belle saw South Callaway trim their lead into single digits by the time the end of the second quarter rolled around.

Leading 24-15 at the halftime intermission, Hank Willis led the Tigers with nine points and four rebounds while Hank Stratman added seven points, five rebounds and three steals in the first half.

Stratman sparked an 8-0 run to open the second half pushing Belle’s lead back into double digits at 32-15 with 4:04 for the third quarter.

Trading points the rest of the period, Belle entered the final eight minutes of their basketball week with a 39-24 advantage.

Aside from a Willis bucket at the 5:15 mark of the fourth quarter, Belle scored their remaining 15 points on free throws while only missed three of their 18 attempts in the final quarter.

Stratman led three Tigers in double figures with 17 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Willis added a double double with 15 points and 12 rebounds while Gehlert scored all 11 of his points in the second half from the charity stripe.

Kooper Elrod nearly joined Willis in the double double club finishing with eight points, seven rebounds, three blocked shots and two assists.

Kelhen Struemph rounded out the Tiger scoring in Mokane with five points, five rebounds and four steals.

Dylan Stonecipher led South Callaway with 11 points and six rebounds.

Nick Halbrook’s JV Tigers led 3-0 on an early Cooper Guinn 3-pointer before South Callaway took a 12-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Only able to get within three points of the Bulldogs at 29-26 with 2:43 for the third quarter, Belle could not get any closer before dropping the JV contest 49-42.

Tucker Harris and Guinn each led the JV Tigers with 16 points.

Harris ended up with a double double adding 19 rebounds, five blocked shots and two steals to his 16 points.

David Skaggs added seven points and three steals while Lathan Miller finished with two points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Easton Schroeder rounded out the JV Tiger scoring against South Callaway with one point on a second-quarter free throw.

Landon Bowen led the JV Bulldogs with 16 points and seven rebounds.

Brock Caruthers also added 10 points and seven rebounds for South Callaway.

Tigers vs Chamois

Jumping out to a 23-2 first-quarter lead last Thursday night at home against Chamois’ Pirates, Belle’s Tigers went on to post an 83-29 victory in varsity-only action in a Highway 89 hardwood showdown.

Willis showed the way for Belle with 29 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.

Gehlert added 16 points, seven assists and six steals while Stratman capped the double-digit scoring trio for the Tigers with 13 points and nine assists.

Struemph chipped in seven points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Kaegan Kinsey threw in six points while also grabbing a team-high six rebounds.

Luke Rohrer scored all four of his points in the fourth quarter to go along with three points from Chase Trainor.

Avery Craigmiles and Guinn netted two points while Brayden Barzee rounded out the Tiger scoring with one point on a fourth-quarter free throw.

Brayden Cotton led Chamois with 10 points.

Tigers vs. Iberia

Matched up with Iberia’s Rangers last Tuesday night in a home game that was moved from Belle High School to Bland Middle School, Schultz’s Tigers overcame a 17-13 first-quarter deficit before eventually pulling away for a 71-46 triumph.

Duplicating his scoring effort against Chamois, Willis scored 23 of his game-high 29 points in the first half.

Stratman added 14 points while Gehlert made it three Tigers in double digits scoring seven of his 12 points in the fourth quarter.

Struemph narrowly missed making it four Tigers in double figures scoring eight of his nine points in the second half against the Rangers.

Rohrer added a third-quarter 3-pointer for three points while Kinsey and Trainor each scored fourth-quarter buckets for two points.

Belle’s JV Tigers turned a 26-24 halftime lead into a 48-36 win behind a team-high 11 points from Harris.

Miller just missed joining Harris in double figures with nine points followed closely with eight points from Guinn.

Skaggs chipped in six points to go along with four points apiece from the JV Tiger trio of Malachi Fredendall, Schroeder and Barzee.

Cody Hamm capped the Belle scoring against Iberia with a fourth-quarter bucket for two points.

Tigers at New Bloomfield

Opening 2026 last Monday on the road at New Bloomfield, Belle broke open a 17-10 game after one quarter before posting a 73-40 victory in Callaway County.

Willis led the way for Belle with a double double of 18 points, 17 rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals.

Stratman added 17 points, five assists and four rebounds while Gehlert flirted with a quadruple double against the Wildcats.

Making it a trio of double-digit scorers, Gehlert finished with 16 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and seven steals.

Struemph kicked in eight points to go along with the duo of Elrod and Rohrer with four markers each.

Elrod also grabbed nine rebounds.

Adding two points apiece in the victory for Belle were Trainor and Kinsey.

Blitzing New Bloomfield 36-9 in the second half, Belle’s JV Tigers helped complete a doubleheader sweep with a 55-24 victory behind a game-high 12 points from Miller.

Barzee made it two JV Tigers in double figures scoring eight of his 10 points in the first half.

Harris just missed making it a double-digit scoring trio finishing with nine points while Guinn added six of his eight points in the third quarter.

Fredendall scored all five of his points in the second half.

Skaggs netted all three of his points in the fourth quarter while the quartet of Brayden Gibson, Braxton Ahart, Schroeder and Hamm all scored two points.

Hosting Crocker Monday night and Dixon last night (Tuesday), Belle will open Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) play this Saturday as part of a pink-out quadrupleheader at Cuba High School against the Wildcats.