C5D1: Notre Dame sacks Sikeston, sets up rematch with Central in semis

The Notre Dame Bulldogs began postseason play on the right note with a 74-30 win over the Sikeston Bulldogs in the Class 5 District 1 playoffs on Thursday at Farmington High School.

Notre Dame started the game with its foot on the gas as they raced out to a 9-0 lead just minutes into the contest.

“We talked before the game that we wanted to start fast,” Notre Dame coach Kirk Boeller said. “We wanted to put up a lot of shots early and then try to intensify our defense and I thought we did a good job of that in the first few minutes.”

Sikeston was able to generate a response as they trailed 20-12 after the first quarter.

Boeller felt his team didn’t keep the intensity up defensively after the opening 9-0 burst.

“I don’t want to say they quit trying but we kind of backed off the pedal a bit,” Boeller said. “I didn’t think our defense in the first half was where we needed to be to be a championship team.”

Notre Dame won the second quarter 18-7 to take a 38-19 lead into the locker room at halftime.

“I was curious after halftime to see how we would respond,” Boeller said. “I thought the first three or four minutes (of the second half) were the best three or four minutes we had all night.”

Notre Dame answered the bell from Boeller as they won the quarter 25-6 to have full control of the game entering the fourth quarter before winning 74-30.

Tori Rubel led the charge for Notre Dame with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists in the win.

“She was phenomenal for all four quarters,” Boeller said. “She disrupted on both sides of the ball.”

Also contributing for Notre Dame were Brie Rubel, Kate Rubel, Anna Garner and Nevaeh Lucious with 11 points each. Adyson Seabaugh and Eliza Barnette had 5 points each and Mia Panton had 2 points.

For Sikeston, it was Landri Hammontree and Alex Segers with 9 points each in the loss. Alexis Johnson had 4 points, Janaye Moore and Kirsten Fairhurst had 3 points and Marlie Crook had 2 points.

Notre Dame (19-5) will take on Cape Central at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 4 at Farmington High School. The Tigers used a big second quarter on the way to a 56-44 win over the Festus Tigers to reach the semfinals.

The two teams were deadlocked at 16 after the first quarter, but Cape Central won the second quarter 22-6 to lead 38-22 at the half.

Key in the second quarter for Cape Central was senior Taylor Horton who had 18 of her 23 points in the second quarter.

If not for the first-half offense of Horton and Ki Bogan, who scored 8 of her 20 points in the first quarter, the game would have been much closer entering the break.

Cape Central would struggle from the field in the second half as they scored just 10 points in the third quarter, but still led 48-30 after three.

Festus was able to crawl back into the game in the fourth quarter as Cape Central scored just 8 points in the fourth while allowing 17 points on the defensive end.

Leading the charge was Horton with 23 points in the win for Cape Central. Ki Bogan had 20 points, Laiya Furlow had 4 points, Celeste Gutierrez, Polly Gonzalez, Gracyn Morris and Abbi Davenport had 2 points and Morgan Patrick had 1 point.

The win pushes Cape Central to 16-10 overall and also sets up a matchup with Notre Dame on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Farmington High School.

The two teams met just once this season and it was at Notre Dame Regional High School where the Bulldogs cruised to a 50-15 win over the Tigers on Feb. 22.