By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports

DEXTER, Mo. - After a highly impressive season and great showing in the semifinal round of the Class 4, District 1 Tournament, the young Dexter Lady Bearcats, starting three freshman and two sophomores Friday (Feb. 25) night, faced off against the Notre Dame Lady Bulldogs in the District Championship game. After a hard-fought contest, the Lady Bearcats emerged District Champions, defeating Notre Dame with a 56-52 final score.

Hannah Noe dropped in a quick layup for the first points of the night, but Nichole Blattel hit a 10-foot jumper two minutes later to tie the game at two. Dexter’s defense stepped up early, and didn’t allow another field goal until there was less than a minute on the clock in the first quarter. Noe hit a three for the Lady ‘Cats at the 4:30 mark to put Dexter back on top, and hit another trey two minutes later. Alison Jarrell continued to impress with her outside shooting ability, hitting her first of four threes with 1:15 left in the first. A steal and layup from Allyson Bradshaw with under a minute left in the quarter put Notre Dame behind by 10, and the score stayed at 14-4 until the end of the opening frame.

Erika Cobb dropped in a bucket after picking off a Notre Dame pass to start the second quarter. Bradshaw completed a three-point play at the 6:35 mark to bring the score to 16-7, with the Lady ‘Cats still holding the lead. Noe hit her second three of the night two minutes later, but Bradshaw answered with a three of her own with just under 3:00 left in the second. Brittany Harris blocked a jumper by Summer Burger with two minutes left in the half. Bradshaw stole the ball, dropped in a layup, and stole the ensuing inbounds pass with 21 seconds left on the clock to bring the score to 23-17. Jarrel hit her second three of the night with 15 seconds remaining. Cobb picked up a loose ball with 10 seconds left in the half, passed it off to Noe, who missed a 15-footer, but Paige Patterson was right there with a big offensive board and putback at the buzzer to give the Lady ‘Cats a 28-17 lead going into halftime.

Miranda Fowler came up with a steal for the Bulldogs just seven seconds into the third quarter, but Notre Dame was unable to score on the ensuing possession. Jarrell hit her third three of the night at the 7:00 mark, but was quickly answered by Fowler. Patterson came up with two steals for the Lady ‘Cats in the quarter, and the second led to a bucket from Harris. Bradshaw picked up a loose ball and hit a three-point play for Notre Dame with 4:45 left in the third quarter. Mollie Whitehead had an offensive rebound and putback for the ‘Cats at the 2:00 mark. Burger picked of an errant pass for the Bulldogs and dumped the ball of to Bradshaw for an easy bucket to end the third quarter. Notre Dame was able to cut Dexter’s lead to 44-36 after the third quarter.

Harris blocked a 12-footer from Burger to start the fourth quarter. Two free-throws from Bradshaw cut Dexter’s lead to six, but Jarrell again connected from three-point land to put the ‘Cats up 47-38. Burger had a chance for a three-point play at the 5:30 mark, but couldn’t connect on her free-throw attempt. Notre Dame’s age and strength advantage became apparent in the fourth quarter, with Bradshaw and Fowler owning the glass during the frame. Two steals from Nicole Blattel and one from Bradshaw allowed the Bulldogs to pull within one point of Dexter with just 2:15 left in the game. Harris was able to connect on one of two free-throws to put the ‘Cats back up by two. A huge bucket from Noe with just under 45 seconds put the Lady Bearcats up 54-52. Katelynn Frazier hit two of the biggest free-throws of her career for Dexter with 16 seconds left in the game to seal the victory at 56-52, and crown the Lady ‘Cats District Champions.

“We came off hot tonight offensively,” LBB head coach Chad Allen said after the trophy presentation. “Last time we played them, it was 27-18 going into halftime, but it was flipped around to where we had to make the comeback in the second half. Our girls found a way to win and knocked down some big free throws there at the end of the game.”

“Hannah [Noe] and Alison [Jarrell] both hit some big shots for us early on,” Allen commented on the Lady ‘Cats excellent outside shooting in the contest. “Brittany [Harris] got off to a cold start, but Alison and Hannah both stepped up while she [Harris] was struggling, until she got her game going.”


“[Allyson] Bradshaw, you could tell she didn’t want to lose this game,” Allen said of Notre Dame’s star senior. “You could tell that she just took over in the second half. She’s a great shooter, great scorer, but our girls just didn’t give up. They never put their heads down, they never quit playing. It seemed like we had three or four timeouts there in a short time span, and every time we got them over there we just tried to calm them down. When you have such a young team like this, its tough as a coach, but they kept on battling and got it done on the floor.”



With the victory, the Lady Bearcats improved to 18-9 on the year, and will move on to the first round of the state playoffs. They will face Farmington Wednesday (March 3) night at Mineral Area College in Park Hills, Mo. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.

Photos above Top Photo: The Lady Bearcats raise their trophy after a close victory over Notre Dame Friday night.
Middle photo: Mollie Whitehead puts up a layup during the Lady 'Cats 56-52 victory.
Bottom photo: Katelynn Frazier drives past Notre Dame's Summer Burger (No. 13)

                                                                     

	1st Q	2nd Q	3rd Q	4th Q	FINAL
DEXTER	14	14	16	12	56
NOTRE DAME	4	13	19	16	52

DEXTER: Jarrell-14. Harris-13. Noe-13. Whitehead-7. Cobb-4. Frazier-3. Patterson-2.

NOTRE DAME: Bradshaw-31. Fowler-7. Burger-7. Blattel-7.