Dexter upends state-ranked Panthers

DEXTER, Mo. -- A young Dexter girls basketball team earned its biggest win of the season Tuesday by defeating the No. 2 team in Class 2.

The Bearcats knocked off visiting Meadow Heights 58-54.

Dexter's team of freshmen and sophomores built a 14-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

But the same youthfulness nearly cost the game in the end.

"I thought we lost our composure a little bit there toward the end of the game," Dexter coach Chad Allen said after his team improved to 13-8. "But they didn't hang their heads. They still fought hard. We didn't knock down some free throws there at the end of the game, but they kept on fighting and they came out on top."

Meadow Heights coach Mitch Nanney went to a trapping press early in the fourth quarter and it gave the Bearcats trouble.

"That's something we've been working on recently, trying to get out and pressure the basketball and look for some traps and trapping situations," Nanney said. "We don't do that a lot, honestly. We usually play straight up man-to-man full court. But we had to make a change."

Meadow Heights forced 13 Dexter turnovers in the fourth quarter and knocked down three 3-pointers to close the deficit. Erin Bollmann's basket with 10 seconds remaining made it a one-possession game at 57-54, but Dexter's Hannah Noe hit the second of two free throws with 4 seconds left to ice the win.

Gina Cureton and Heather Dietiker both finished with 16 points for Meadow Heights (16-3). Hattie Cook drained four 3-pointers and had 13 points.

Dexter's Brittany Harris had a game-high 18 points despite foul problems.

Meadow Hts 8 11 9 26 -- 54

Dexter 15 12 15 16 -- 58

MEADOW HEIGHTS (54) -- Hattie Cook 13, Gina Cureton 16, Erin Bollmann 7, Heather Dietiker 16, Whitney Welker 2. FG 17, FT 13-22, F 16. (3-pointers: Cook 4, Cureton 1, Dietiker 2. Fouled out: none)

DEXTER (58) -- Mollie Whitehead 2, Katelyn Frazier 6, Hannah Noe 10, Alison Jarrell 13, Erika Cobb 7, Brittany Harris 18, Paige Patterson 2. FG 21, FT 8-14, F 18. (3-pointers: Noe 2, Jarrell 3. Fouled out: none)