Lady 'Cats stop Sikeston, will play for three-peat

David Jenkins photo/SEMO News Service Dexter's Lauren Ward (right) drives past Sikeston's Keyonna Blissett during Thursday's Class 4, District 1 Tournament semifinal at the Bearcat Event Center.

That carefree attitude showed Thursday night as the Lady Bearcats scored the first 10 points of the game and never let up in a 64-39 win over the Sikeston Lady Bulldogs in the semifinals of the Class 4, District 1 Tournament at the Bearcat Event Center.

Winners of the last two Class 4 District 1 championships, Dexter enters tonight's district title game as the underdog to top-seeded nemesis Notre Dame -- not that that's a problem.

"There's no pressure on us because we're not state-ranked like Notre Dame," Dexter senior Abbie Warren said. "We're going to just go out there, give it our all and hope for the best."

On Thursday night, the Lady Bearcats made sure from the opening tip that Sikeston never made a game of it, holding the Lady Bulldogs scoreless for over four minutes to start the game.

"We wanted to get the lead quick so we went out there, played hard and gave it our all," said Warren.

Warren and freshman forward Brittany Harris were both big factors on Thursday, combining for 36 points and dominating a Sikeston squad with no starter over 5-foot-7.

"I knew we'd hurt (Sikeston) inside so we just really wanted to pound the ball inside and try to get it in to them," Dexter coach Chad Allen said. "They scored quite a few points tonight and got a lot of offensive boards. I thought they had a great game."

While Warren and Harris were dominating inside, the Lady Bearcats' defense was dominating when Sikeston had the ball, limiting the Lady 'Dogs to two first-quarter baskets and 12 points before the break.

"Overall I thought we did a really good job, especially the first half defensively, limiting them to 12 points," said Allen. "Second half we didn't do so well defensively, but the girls played hard tonight. I thought they executed our game plan pretty well."

Much of Dexter's strong start on defense came off of a pressure defense that frustrated the Lady Bulldogs often on Thursday.

"Early on I thought we definitely caused quite a few turnovers and actually got some points off turnovers early," Allen said. "Sikeston adjusted a little bit and they started breaking a little bit. ... We had to just go ahead, back it off and try out halfcourt defense. I thought we did a great job in it."

Warren led all scorers with 20 points, while Lauren Ward added 17 and Harris finished with 16 for the Lady 'Cats.

Asia Liggins paced Sikeston with 12 points.

Dexter will face Notre Dame for the district title this evening at 6. Despite being the underdog, the Lady 'Cats are looking forward to the challenge.

"We're all excited, hoping to go out there and prove everyone wrong," said Warren.

Bernie 75, Clarkton 41

At Bernie, the state-ranked Mules closed out the regular season with a big win over the visiting Reindeer.

Bernie (22-4) took a 27-9 lead over the 'Deer after one period and led 43-17 at the half.

Jake Owens had a huge night, canning five 3-pointers on the way to 20 points, while Jake Smith added 17 and Sammy Walker finished with 12 and nine rebounds. Jake Welch added nine points, eight assists and five steals in the win.