ND, KELLY GIRLS ADVANCE TO 2A, DISTRICT FINAL

BLOOMFIELD -- Defending district champion Notre Dame returned to the Class 2A, District 2 girls championship game with a 56-19 thrashing of Greenville Tuesday night in semifinal action.

Top-seeded Notre Dame (20-5) will face No. 2 seed Kelly (23-4) in Friday night's 6:30 championship game. The Lady Hawks advanced with a 52-36 victory over No. 3 seed Scott City (10-14).

Notre Dame, which reached the 2A quarterfinals last year, left nothing to chance as it stormed out to a 24-0 first-quarter lead and held a 31-4 advantage by halftime.

"It's good to get the championship," said Notre Dame coach Jerry Grim. "We were a little worried about Greenville because we hadn't seen them this year. We were lucky to jump out and they were never able to get their feet on the ground."

Sophomore Courtney Vickery led the way with 11 points as nine Lady Bulldogs found the scoring column. Ashley Millham and Deana McCormick each finished with nine points.

Misty Thompson led fourth-seeded Greenville with 10 points.

Kelly also had a rather easy rout to the final as it jumped out to a 26-13 lead by halftime. The Lady Hawks took a commanding 43-22 lead into the fourth quarter.

Bridgett Riley scored 12 of her team-high 19 points in the third quarter when Kelly outscored Scott City 17-9.

Marissa Essner added 10 points for the Lady Hawks.

Jennifer Bain, 16 points, was the only Scott City player to reach double figures.

Notre Dame and Kelly have met once this season with the Lady Bulldogs posting a convincing 55-29 victory.

"It's a tall task," said Kelly coach Curtis Finley. "We're excited to be in the championship game. They have a tremendous team. We'll work hard for an upset and see what happens."

Grim said his team will have to guard against overconfidence.

"You have to take each game as it comes," he said. "You can't look past anybody. You have to play like it's the first you've seen them and they're out to get you."

Boys basketball

Class 1A, District 3

FREDERICKTOWN -- The results stayed according to form as the top four seeds all advanced to Thursday night's semifinal round.

While No. 2 seed Viburnum advanced Monday night with a win over Oak Ridge, top-seeded South Iron, third-seeded St. Vincent and fourth-seeded Leopold all advanced Tuesday.

South Iron disposed of No. 8 Meadow Heights 76-51; Leopold defeated No. 5 Marquand 66-48; and St. Vincent stopped No. 6 Valle 56-48.

In Thursday's semifinals, S. Iron (18-4) and Leopold (17-8) will meet at 6 p.m. and will be followed by St. Vincent (18-7) and Viburnum (20-4) at 7:30.

In Tuesday's games, Chad Middleton scored 20 points to pace South Iron's victory. Josh Mayfield scored 13 and Brandon Tallent 12 for Meadow Heights (2-21). South Iron took a 21-6 lead in the first quarter and carried an insurmountable 43-20 cushion into halftime.

Leopold took a slim 15-14 advantage into the second quarter, but outscored Marquand 16-6 in a decisive second quarter for a 31-20 halftime lead. The Wildcats extended the lead to 46-33 by the start of the fourth quarter.

Daniel Schaab connected for four 3-pointers in finishing with a team-high 19 points for Leopold. Adam Horrell added 16 points and Ashton James finished with 14.

Heath Stephens scored a game-high 23 points for Marquand (11-12).

St. Vincent won a game of spurts with Valle (5-17). The Indians jumped out to an 18-6 lead in the opening quarter, only to see the Warriors close the gap to 28-26 by halftime. St. Vincent then outscored Valle 16-6 in the third quarter to go up 44-32 and held on down the stretch.

The Indians used a balanced attack to overcome 25 points by Valle's Ryan Odneal, the Warriors' lone player in double figures. Gabe Hotop, 15 points, led four Indians in double figures. Todd Meyer had 13, Justin Amschler netted 12 and Derek Kutz finished with 10.