BROSELEY, Mo. -- Dexter's streak of dominance at the Lady Royals Christmas Classic continued Thursday night, only this time it didn't come easy.
Neelyville went toe-to-toe with the tournament's giant and had every chance to knock it down. But in a game that came down to free throws, the Lady Bearcats reigned supreme.
Top-seeded Dexter hit 12 of 16 from the charity stripe in the final 2 minutes, 45 seconds and hung on for a 67-58 victory over the No. 2 Lady Tigers at Twin Rivers High School.
It was Dexter's second straight championship victory over Neelyville and its 8th tournament title. Neelyville, which has appeared in the last five finals with Dexter, last beat the Lady Bearcats in the 2014.
"It was a physical game and it was huge for us to be able to step up to the line and make some shots down the stretch," Dexter coach Chad Allen said. "We've got a big rivalry between us and Neelyville and every time we play them it's usually a battle. Tonight was more of the same."
Neelyville, meanwhile, shot 22 of 37 from the free-throw line and missed 10 of those freebies in the first half.
"They would've made a big difference," Neelyville senior Michaela Eakins said of her team's free throw shooting. "We practice them all the time and usually that's a no-brainer for us, but for whatever reason we weren't on tonight."
In a game that featured 48 personal fouls, tensions were high between the two teams and coaches, who each picked up technical fouls. Dexter coach Chad Allen was relegated to the bench with 1:39 to play in the first half. Less than a minute later, Neelyville coach Becky Hale followed suit. With 2:07 to play in the third Hale got up from the bench to argue a foul call against her team and was ejected.
She declined comment after the game.
Dexter sophomore Chaylea Mosby, who was named to the All-Tournament team, scored a game-high 32 points and finished with a tournament-best 127 points through four games. She scored over 30 in three of those contests. Junior Hannah Thurmon added nine points, was two points shy of a triple double with 16 rebound and 10 assists, and also knocked down a pair of free throws in the third quarter to give the Lady Bearcats (7-5) the lead for good.
J'Kayla Fowler paced Neelyville (8-2) with 28 points, Jentri Worley chipped in 18 and Ashley Oxley had six.
Neelyville led by as many as seven points in the first quarter before Dexter made a late first-half charge to pull within 30-29 by halftime.
Neelyville got within two points midway through the fourth quarter until Dexter pulled away.
__Consolation final__
__Twin Rivers 68, Charleston 60__
Charleston's Ashanti Jones and Connor Watkins combined for 47 points but it wasn't enough to topple the Royals for a Lady Royals Classic consolation championship.
Jones, who led all scorers with 26 points, scored 12 of Charleston's 18 points in the fourth quarter. The Bluejays (9-2) outscored Twin Rivers by five points in the second half after falling behind 38-25 at halftime.
Watkins scored 21 and Jermanjea Smith added 11 for Charleston, who's only two losses came at this year's tournament.
Katelyn South led Twin Rivers with 22 points. Kylee Lewis added 19 and Brooke Blume chipped in 12.
Twin Rivers 17 21 16 14 -- 68
Charleston 11 14 17 18 -- 60
TWIN RIVERS (68) -- Emmy Roberts 5, Katie Baxter 2, Katelyn South 22, Brooke Blume 12, Kylee Lewis 19, Olivia Douglas 2, Katie Deken 6. FG 25 FT 12-20 F 19. (3-pointers: South 3, Lewis 3. Fouled out: Baxter, Douglas.)
CHARLESTON (60) -- Ashanti Jones 26, Nicole Hart 2, Connor Watkins 21, Jermanjea Smith 11. FG 23 FT 9-20 F 15. (3-pointers: Jones 2, Smith 3. Fouled out: none.)