Dexter makes first title game, routs Benton 54-21

sports@standard-democrat.com

COLUMBIA -- Dreams became reality Friday afternoon as the Dexter Lady Bearcats exercised the demons of last year's demoralizing semifinal loss to Incarnate Word.

Back in the semifinals for the second straight year the Lady Bearcats cruised to a 54-21 win over Benton to advance to the school's first ever championship game.

"I think playing here last year helped a lot," Dexter head coach Chad Allen said. "Just being here and coming back, we didn't have the nerves like we did last year and that helped a lot getting off to a good start. Our pressure, really getting after them and getting some easy baskets at the beginning of the game definitely helped (as well)."

Except for a brief Lady Cardinal run in the third quarter, the Lady Bearcats controlled every facet of the game. They shot 56.8 percent from the field while holding Benton to only 23.2 percent.

Dexter's Makayla Waldner attempts a layup Friday during a Class 4 semifinal at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. (Chris Pobst Photo)

Rarely did the Lady Bearcats allow Benton a clean possession. Pressing for nearly three full quarters, Dexter forced 19 turnovers and collected seven steals.

Their suffocating pressure held Benton to only three field goals in the first half, allowing Dexter to take a comfortable 29-9 lead into the locker room.

"Overall I just thought defensively we played our best game of the year," Allen said. We've been getting better game to game. Tonight coming in we knew we'd have to put a lot of pressure on them and they have a great point guard in (Daejah Bernard) and a great shooter in (Mallory McAndrews). We did a good job with our game plan in trying to take those two away and put a lot of pressure on them."

An 8-0 run to start the third quarter left Dexter just a basket from a 30-point advantage with 4:23 to play in the frame. Shortly after, however, the Lady Cardinals put together their best stretch of the night scoring nine straight points to close within 19 points, 37-18, with a minute in the period.

The Lady Bearcats burned two timeouts to rectify the situation and soon after were rolling again. They mounted a 9-0 run directly after and with 4:01 left in regulation, senior Hannah Noe scored a conventional 3-point play to put the turbo clock in play.

"It feels to good to come out here for sure after leaving last year with fourth knowing we're one step closer to winning a state title," Noe said.

Dexter's Hannah Noe (10) talks with her team Friday during a Class 4 semifinal at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. (Chris Pobst Photo)

Noe's 18 points were shy of her 22.6 point average, but were good enough to lead Dexter in scoring. She shot 6 of 12 from the field and a perfect 5 of 5 at the foul line while contributing two assists and a steal.

Doing much of her damage inside, Paige Patterson finished with 16 points. The 6-0 senior was 7 of 12 from the floor while making her presence felt in the paint with three blocks and four rebounds.

Senior Alison Jarrell was a perfect 3 of 3 from 3-point range, where she collected all nine of her points and fellow senior Erika Cobb had seven points to go with a game-high eight rebounds.

"Today was probably one of the first days we executed all of our sets and got a lot of good looks off them," Allen said. "When you're hitting shots it makes you look a whole lot better."

For Benton, sophomore Morgan Domann had a team-high nine points and five rebounds. Bernard, a junior had a game-tying high eight rebounds to go with five points, three assists and four steals.

"We messed up some opportunities when the game was 6-5," Lady Cardinals' head coach Brett Goodwin said. "We missed some layups and some one-on-one opportunities. We didn't handle the situation very well. Once you're not able to score, they put a lot of pressure on us defensively.

Members of the Dexter bench react after a made 3-pointer Friday during a Class 4 semifinal at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. (Chris Pobst Photo)

"They are a team that is well experienced and a team that is going to take advantage of those opportunities."

Despite holding Dexter to 20 points under their season average, Goodwin admitted the Lady Bearcats speed and ability to spread the floor was too much to handle.

"We kept it within fighting distance and it was just really hard to score," Goodwin said. It was too much for us to cover. We had to work so hard offensively to get baskets that we couldn't get back and perform defensively. We just really struggled today.

"It's easy to chalk this up as a game that we didn't perform, but all credit goes to Dexter because they did."

With Friday's win the Lady Bearcats are guaranteed the best finish in school history, but will face their biggest test of the season in a rematch with Incarnate Word.

Not only are the Red Knights the defending champions, but they come into the title game with a 30-1 record and combined 61-1 mark over the past two seasons.

Dexter now stands at 27-3 and are riding a 14-game winning streak. It was Incarnate Word's 66-25 rout of the Lady Bearcats in last year's semifinals that led to a fourth place finish.

Tip off in the championship game is at 6:20 p.m. Saturday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.

"They're a pretty good team," Patterson said. "We were scared of them last year to be honest. I was. They're a good team and we're going to a have to come and play to beat them."

Dexter 12 17 13 12 - 54

Benton 5 4 9 3 - 21

DEXTER (54) -- Hannah Noe 18, Alison Jarrell 9, Erika Cobb 7, Paige Patterson 16, Makayla Waldner 2, Melanie McKuin 2. FG 21, FT 8-10, F 14. (3-pointers: Noe 1, Jarrell 3. Fouled out: none.)

BENTON (21)-- Mallory McAndrews 3, Daejah Bernard 5, Elizabeth Mollett 4, Morgan Domann 9. FG 7, FT 6-10, 10. (3-pointers: McAndrews 1. Fouled out: none.)