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DEXTER -- After last year's disappointing fourth-place finish at state the Dexter Lady Bearcats are back for a shot at redemption.
With last Saturday's 75-31 thumping of Battle, Dexter will head to Columbia this Friday for another shot at the Class 4 championship.
At a glance this year's path to the title game looks to be easier than last season's when the Lady Bearcats were match up against eventual champion Incarnate Word. With the Red Knights lined up on the other side of the bracket, Dexter (26-3) will see the Benton Lady Cardinals (21-8) in the semifinals.
While a rematch with Incarnate Word looms in a potential title game scenario, Dexter head coach Chad Allen said the Lady Cardinals can't be overlooked.
"We have a tough opponent with Benton," Allen said. "I think our styles contrast a little bit. They like to sort of like to slow it down and they're real deliberate in their offense. They're very patient. We have a tough task guarding them.
This year's Lady Bearcat squad has much of the same feel as last season's as they return four starting seniors. The one notable exception is that of Brittney Harris, last year's SEMO Conference Player of the Year and first-team all-state selection, who was lost to graduation.
Though Harris will be a missed presence in the paint, in a sense the Lady Bearcats pick up another 1,000 point scorer in senior Alison Jarrell. After suffering an injury in Dexter's regular season finale Jarrell missed her team's entire entire postseason run in 2013.
Jarrell, the Lady Bearcats all-time leading 3-point scorer, is one of four Dexter starters in the 1,000 point club. Fellow seniors Hannah Noe, Erika Cobb and Paige Patterson round out the list.
"We're not as tall as last year, but having Alison back, having that 3-point threat out there, definitely helps," Allen said. "It helps spread out the defense when you have a good shooter like that.
"Going into the final four this year I feel really good. I feel like we have a great chance. We just have to defend and hopefully shoot well."
So far in their postseason run, which consists of four games, Noe easily leads Dexter with 91 points and has averages 22.8 points-per-game.
In that same span, Cobb has 41 points, good for a 10.3 points-per-game average, while Jarrell and Patterson have totaled 37 points each to average 9.3 points-per-game.
Along with the four senior who will likely be expected to do the heavy lifting, the Lady Bearcats bring with them a trio of sophomores who all contribute considerable minutes. This includes Dakota Reynolds, Makayla Walder and Melanie McKuin.
Waldner leads the sophomore pack this postseason with 24 points with Reynolds and McKuin contributing 20 and 17 points respectively.
One area Allen feels his team will have an advantage is experience in the final. Pretty much everyone on the team was part of last year's trip to Columbia and has witnessed all the distractions and emotions that come with it.
Benton on the other hand hasn't made it past the first round of the championship bracket in the past four years their current group of kids have been in high school.
"I think it's a huge advantage," Allen said of the experience. "Being in the final four last year and making it back, I think we won't be nervous like we were last year going in to it. I think that definitely plays a key role. They didn't make it there last year so I think we should have an advantage from that perspective.
"Hopefully we'll take that advantage, guard them the way we want to guard them, hit our perimeter shots and executing offensively."
The Lady Cardinals reach the final four off a 48-31 win over Notre Dame de Sion in the quarterfinals and a 39-35 sectional win against Lincoln College Prep. They won their championship bracket games by a combined 31-points compared to the Lady Bearcats' 61-point differential in their two games.
Tip off will be Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.
If Dexter wins they'll advance to play the winner of Incarnate Word/Marshfield for the championship Saturday at 6:20 p.m., also at Mizzou Arena. A semifinals loss would have them playing for third place Saturday at 11 a.m. at the same location.
"We're just focusing on one game at a time," Allen said.