Meadow Heights girls basketball team sinks Bismarck in sectional

PARK HILLS, Mo. -- Meadow Heights' junior Heather Dietiker remembers her team's sectional game against Bismarck a season ago.

"I remember it being really close," Dietiker said. "I did not want that this year, so we said we need to have a stretch because I hate close games. It's nerve-wracking."

Dietiker got her wish as the Meadow Heights girls basketball team defeated Bismarck 70-48 on Wednesday night at Park Hills Central High School.

"I think we made our statement," Hattie Cook said, "and we've got to get ready for the whoever we play now."

Cook had an even bigger statement planned entering the game.

"We were hoping to have a running clock by the fourth quarter," Cook said, "We heard that they wanted revenge on us, and we weren't going to let that happen."

After the teams exchanged baskets to open the first quarter, Meadow Heights went on a 10-0 run to open up a lead. The Panthers never trailed in the game.

"We wanted to set the tone early," Meadow Heights coach Mitch Nanney said. "We wanted to attack them defensively and offensively. The big advantage they had was their size. We were going to pressure them all night long, and they were concerned with our quickness."

Dietiker said the early lead helped calm the Panthers.

"It made me feel more confident," Dietiker said. "I just knew that I could trust my teammates and we could do this as long as we played 110 percent."

It turns out Meadow Heights (20-8) needed the extra energy to wear down Bismarck (23-4).

"We wanted to execute and get the ball up and down the floor, make or miss at some points really," Nanney said. "Get the ball up and down the floor and make them run in transition. Make their bigger girls get up and down the floor and have to run with us."

Nanney said he could see the pace of the game affecting the Indians, even as his team was making its early run.

"I really think you could see that taking a toll on them in the middle of the first quarter. They were already really huffing for air," he said.

Meadow Heights hit eight 3-pointers in the game, half of them by Cook.

"I felt like I was having a good day," Cook said. "It's not always like that."

Cook said she found herself looking for long-range shots more often.

"If I'm open, my teammates pretty much expect me to shoot it," she said. "I don't want to force them, which I did in the fourth quarter. I think I forced them because I guess I was feeling it, but I guess my team expects me to shoot them."

By the time the fourth quarter arrived, it didn't matter much. Meadow Heights had opened up a 16-point halftime lead and led 54-31 at the end of the third quarter.

There is only one senior on the Panthers' roster, but Nanney said the experience his team gained in last year's playoffs and this year while playing without star Whitney Welker made for a more comfortable win over Bismarck.

"The other five, six kids -- our core kids -- stepped up their game to make up for that difference," he said.

That experience could help Meadow Heights advance to the final four this season after coming up one win short a year ago.

The Panthers will face Thayer at 1 p.m. Saturday at Poplar Bluff High School

"I think our experience will help pay off because we've been there and done that before," Nanney said.

Meadow Heights 70, Bismarck 48

Meadow Heights 16 20 18 16 -- 70

Bismarck 8 12 11 17 -- 48

MEADOW HEIGHTS (70) -- Mica Morse 4, Hattie Cook 21, Erin Bollmann 6, Gina Cureton 12, Heather Dietiker 12, Whitney Welker 8, Taylor Cureton 1, Jillian Mills 6. FG 22, FT 19-24, F 17. (3-pointers: Morse 1, Cook 4, G. Cureton 1, Dietiker 2. Fouled out: none.)

BISMARCK (48) -- Brooke Taylor 21, Megan Counts 5, Balee Lorenz 4, Harley Cadwell 4, Torrie Helmes 3, Brettnie Henson 11. FG 16, FT 15-27, F 23. (3-pointers: Taylor 1. Fouled out: Helmes, Taylor.)