Dexter holds off Perryville for title

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- After a somewhat listless three quarters, the Perryville girls basketball team showed what it was made of in the final quarter of the Class 4 District 1 championship game Friday night at the Perry Park Center.

But Perryville's spirited fourth quarter came up short in a 51-40 loss to top-seeded Dexter.

"We let them shoot out too much and get up by too many points," Perryville coach Vicki Lohmann said.

Perryville, the No. 3 seed, did make the final period interesting, though. Amber Hacker gave the Pirates a 37-36 lead with 2:35 to play on a pair of free throws. Dexter star Rachel Blunt answered with a three-point play to put Dexter back on top 39-37.

Krista Miesner answered right back with a 3-pointer to give Perryville a 40-39 lead with 1:40 left.

Blunt once again answered to make the score 41-40, a lead the Bearcats did not give back.

"Coach told me to take the ball and do something with it," said Blunt, a Southeast Missouri State recruit.

After Dexter stole the ball and made a layup on Perryville's next possession to go ahead 43-40, Perryville went cold from the field. And every time the Pirates missed, Taylor Nelson was there to collect the rebound.

Nelson hit eight straight free throws down the stretch to put Perryville away. All of her trips to the line came on fouls after getting a defensive rebound.

"You can't put Nelson on the line with that much time on the clock," Lohmann said.

Miesner led Perryville (16-10) with 16 points and Hacker had 14. Both Hacker and Miesner are juniors, and much of Perryville's nucleus will return.

"I've got a solid group of juniors coming back," Lohmann said.

Nelson led the Bearcats (23-4) with 20 points, and Blunt added 19. This was Dexter's first district championship.

"We've talked about this for four years," Blunt said. "We thought this year we had a chance."

DEXTER 51, PERRYVILLE 40

Perryville 7 6 12 15 -- 40

Dexter 10 10 8 23 -- 51

PERRYVILLE (40) - Krista Miesner 16, Amber Hacker 14, Christina Schremp 2, Annette Weibrecht 4, Becky Bachmann 2, Bethany Steffens 2. FG: 16, FT: 5-10, Fouls: 14 (3-pointers: Hacker 2, Miesner 1, fouled out: none)

DEXTER (51) - Taylor Nelson 20, Rachel Blunt 19, Natalie Hayes 6, Haylee Finch 6. FG: 19, FT: 11-14, Fouls: 13 (3-pointers: Nelson 2, fouled out: none)