Season ends for Lady Bulldogs following 59-23 loss to Notre Dame

sports@standard-democrat.com

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The start they were dreading came to a reality.

Second-seeded Notre Dame stormed out to an early lead to put Sikeston's chances of an upset and season to an end.

The Sikeston Lady Bulldogs lost 59-23 to Notre Dame during the semifinals of the Class 4, District 1 tournament at Cape Central High School Thursday night.

"When you have trouble scoring off the start like we did and they are in the flow of their game, it's hard," Sikeston head coach Matt Schonhoff said. "It seemed like every tipped or loose ball they were able to get. We were on our back foot and they were able to get some easy stuff."

Notre Dame moves on to the district championship game against top-seeded Dexter tonight at 6 p.m. while Sikeston ends the year with a 14-13 record.

Turnovers handicapped Sikeston from the start. After seven possessions, the tournament's No. 3 seed had seven turnovers and 10 total in the first quarter.

"We kept on dribbling to their trap, they saw it and we weren't real smart in those types of situations," Schonhoff said.

Like many times this season, Notre Dame, who is the ninth-ranked team in Class 4, took its opponent's misfortunes and turned it to an advantage jumping out to an 8-0 lead. They held Sikeston, who committed 29 turnovers, without a field goal in the first quarter and led 15-2.

Sikeston head coach Matt Schonhoff gives instructions to his team during a timeout in the Class 4, District 1 semifinals on Thursday at Cape Central High School. (David Jenkins photo)

"Our defense has to lead to our offense," Notre Dame head coach Renee Peters said. "I think our average height is 5-foot-4-and-a-half so we have to be able to run-and-gun and hit the outside shots. We've got a lot of speed on the team that we try to take advantage of."

When offensive opportunities presented themselves Sikeston had trouble seizing them. They went 0 for 6 in the first period and shot 25 percent (5 of 20) in the first half. They scored their first field goal 17 seconds into the second quarter.

"Any shot that we were able to get it seemed like it rimmed out or bounced out," said Schonhoff. "We could not get into the flow and stay in the flow of the basketball game."

A small 6-2 run midway through the second quarter that involved consecutive buckets by senior Mikala Nichols and one by Alana Basham trimmed Notre Dame's lead to 22-10, but 12 was as close as they would make it.

Notre Dame led 30-12 at the half after shooting 47 percent (11 of 23) from the floor in the first half and committing and uncharacteristic 11 turnovers. A large part of that was Sikeston's swarming defense.

"We played them earlier this year and we beat them by a nice margin that didn't really reflect the story of the game," Peters said about their 56-26 victory over Sikeston in mid-January. "Sikeston just never stops. Matt (Schonhoff) does a great job with the girls with the defense that they play and the tenacity that they play with. They came after us and forced us out of our rhythm. Compliment to them."

Notre Dame (21-2) held Sikeston to four points in the third quarter while scoring 18 and forcing their counterpart into another eight turnovers. A lay-in by Siebert 30 seconds into the quarter sparked a 12-0 run that put Notre Dame ahead 42-14 with 3:57 left.

Sikeston shot 1 of 8 during the period and were looking up at a 48-16 Notre Dame advantage going into the fourth.

"I don't know if our focus wasn't there or not but we came out really flat," Schonhoff said about his teams' second half start. "Notre Dame took over."

Peet led the Lady Bulldogs with nine points. Nichols finished with eight.

Notre Dame was led by Shelby Beussink's 15 points while Siebert chipped in with 12.

The win for Notre Dame places them into a matchup this district has seen for some time. For the sixth-straight season Notre Dame will take on Dexter in the championship game which has been won by Dexter, the sixth ranked team in Class 4, the last three years. Notre Dame's last district championship was in 2010.

"This is one of those things that we've been working for all year," Peters said about meeting Dexter again. "We met up with Dexter a few weeks ago and lost by six and realized that there parts of our game that we can really improve and we're looking forward to the opportunity again. It should be a good game."

Though the season came to a lopsided end, Sikeston improved its final record by eight games compared to their six win season last year.

"That's a huge turnaround for our girls and our program," Schnohoff said. "My first two years here we won around 16 games so to get back to the winning form is a testament to how hard these girls worked."

Sikeston will say goodbye to one senior, Mikala Nichols, who averaged 10 points and was their most consistent scorer throughout the year.

"I thought Mikala had a terrific senior season," Schonhoff said. "She won us some games and kept us in a lot of games this year."

This is the third time in the last four years Sikeston's season ended at the hand of Notre Dame in the district semifinals.

"The Dexter's, the Notre Dame's and the Park Hills Central's are better than us. That's the name of the game," Schonhoff said. "It just showed how much more we have to work. We have to become better shooters and better ball handlers and the little things in the game of basketball. If we want to compete for district titles we have to get to that level."

Sikeston 2 10 4 7 -- 23

Notre Dame 15 15 18 11 -- 59

SIKESTON (23) -- Tyra Bonner 2, Mikala Nichols 8, Erica Peet 9, Ariana Beard 3, Alana Basham 2. FG 9 FT 5-11 F 15. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none.)

NOTRE DAME (59) -- Annie Siebert 12, Kaitlin Welter 6, Karsen Powers 8, Shelby Beussink 15, Taylor Feeney 8, Abigal McAlister 5, Madeline Rosenquist 5. FG 22 FT 12-17 F 9. (3-pointers: Welter 1, McAlister 1, Rosenquist 1. Fouled out: none.)