C4D1: Lady Bearcats rally past Perryville, get rematch with Doniphan

DEXTER — The Dexter Lady Bearcats get their key starter back just in time for the MSHSAA Class 4 District 1 tournament.

After suffering a knee injury a month ago, senior Caitlin Giles returned to help fourth-seeded Dexter advance to the semifinals by defeating No. 5 Perryville 46-43 Tuesday at the Bearcat Event Center.

“I just feel so great about this win,” Giles said. “Being back on the court after being sidelined just makes me feel like I can finally breathe. I won’t say it doesn’t come without some anxiety, but I’m excited to play Doniphan, and you couldn’t ask for more as a senior.”

Dexter coach Eric Sitze said it was great having Giles back on the floor because she helps fill that void they’ve missed the last few games.

“I know she’s not 100%, but having her on the floor helps us a lot,” Sitze said. “She helps up with her length in the post with rebounding, but she also gives us a lot of confidence. She’s by far not 100%, but Caitlin has given a great effort out there for us.”

Stepping into districts with homecourt advantage, the Lady Bearcats had all the momentum needed to advance to the semifinals, but Perryville wouldn’t make this matchup easy.

The Lady Bearcats struck first with a 3-pointer, but Perryville answered right back with a 3 of its own and continued its scoring run to land them a 26-16 lead at the half.

Trailing for most of the game, the Lady Bearcats regrouped after the half and came back out with a different energy, forcing Perryville to step up or move out of the way. Of course, Perryville didn’t back down as both teams began to trade baskets to start the last period.

With only five minutes remaining in the contest, each team needed to make the right plays to gain the upper hand.

The Lady Bearcats received a spark from junior guard Abbie Lloyd, who finished with 17 points, to finally capture the lead. Lloyd hit two of her five 3s late in the fourth, giving her squad the gap to keep the lead.

Sophomore Katelyn Nichols added with 10 points, while junior Allison Turnbo had eight and Giles chipped in with points while pulling down a good number of rebounds.

“We were down most of the game, so it felt good to snatch this one back,” Sitze said. “We just had to keep chipping away and try to stay positive. We finally started stepping in there and knocking down those open shots, which was big for us.”

Despite the loss, Perryville left everything on the floor. Senior guard Kyla Schnurbusch led the Lady Pirates with 19 points and junior Brooklyn Moll added 15.

Perryville’s head coach Jason Dreyer was disappointed in the outcome but admired how well his team competed.

“I’m really proud of our effort tonight,” Dreyer said. We knew it would be tough coming down here and playing them on their home court, but we played so hard. I felt in the fourth quarter it came down to who made more shots, and that was Dexter.

“Dexter plays really hard, so it forced us to use a lot of energy, and tonight we only played with six players. Regardless of us being tired or not we didn’t make the shots we needed to make to get this one.”

The Lady Bearcats will face No. 1 seed Doniphan Thursday in the semifinals back at the Bearcat Event Center.

“Doniphan is a really great team, and they’re the number one seed, so I think that speaks for itself,” Sitze said. “We’ve got to come out and execute, and we have to play super hard. It will take a great effort, and all we can do is leave it all on the floor and hope it’s good enough.”