Notre Dame girls earn trip to Class 4 state quarters

PARK HILLS, Mo. -- Revenge was sweet for the Notre Dame girls basketball team.

The Bulldogs avenged one of their four regular-season losses, beating Farmington 73-62 in Wednesday's Class 4 sectional at Mineral Area College.

"It was redemption," senior forward Meghan Dohogne said. "They beat us at our place and we knew this was basically like a home game for them."

Notre Dame (24-4), ranked second in the state, advances to face fourth-ranked Borgia in Saturday's quarterfinal round at the Farmington Civic Center.

The Bulldogs are one win away from their first final four berth since 2003.

"It's exciting," senior center Jane Morrill said. "I'm just bouncing off the wall right now."

Seventh-ranked Farmington (21-6) defeated the Bulldogs 53-50 on Jan. 11 in Cape Girardeau. That game was marked by Morrill suffering an injury in the second quarter after the Bulldogs had built a double-digit lead.

Morrill, who has signed to play at Division I Arkansas State, missed the rest of the contest as the Knights rallied.

Morrill also had her court time limited Wednesday, this time due to foul trouble. But she was dominant despite playing only about half the game, scoring 21 points and pulling down seven rebounds in addition to blocking several shots.

"I thought it was a great team win," Morrill said. "When I stepped out, everybody pulled it together."

Morrill scored nine first-quarter points and dominated inside as Notre Dame built a 28-13 lead by the end of the period.

Morrill's basket to begin the second quarter put Notre Dame up 30-13, but she missed several minutes of the period after picking up her second and third fouls.

The Bulldogs still led 45-28 at the break after senior reserve guard Katherine Blasiney scored on a follow shot at the buzzer.

Things got hairy for Notre Dame in the third quarter as Farmington made a major push with Morrill on the bench.

Morrill scored the first basket of the period to give the Bulldogs their biggest lead of the night at 47-28.

Notre Dame's Summer Burger drives to the basket against Farmington during the third quarter of their Class 4 sectional game Wednesday in Park Hills, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

Morrill was whistled for her fourth foul seconds later and she sat on the bench for the remainder of the quarter.

"It was frustrating, but I tried not to show it," Morrill said of her foul problems. "I just tried to support everybody from the bench."

With Morrill out, Farmington used a 17-1 run to cut its deficit to 48-45 late in the period. Blasiney hit another buzzer-beater, this time draining a 3-pointer, to put Notre Dame up 51-45 heading into the fourth quarter.

"That was a big shot," said Notre Dame coach Renee Peters, who added with a laugh: "She specializes in buzzer-beaters."

With Morrill back on the court for much of the final period, Notre Dame regained control.

Junior guard Allyson Bradshaw, who matched Morrill with 21 points while recording eight assists, hit the last of her four 3-pointers to begin the quarter.

That started a 7-0 run by the Bulldogs at the outset of the period as they went back ahead 58-45.

Asked if things got tense with Morrill in foul trouble and Farmington rallying, Bradshaw said: "It was, a little bit. But we knew we had to play through it."

The Bulldogs stayed in control the rest of the way, even after Morrill finally fouled out with 2 minutes, 40 seconds left.

Farmington got as close as 66-57 in the late going but Notre Dame hit enough free throws to easily hold off the Knights, who were led by junior center Morgan Ankrom with 20 points and senior forward Whitney Heuring with 19.

"Obviously no lead is secure," Peters said. "It was a choppy game, with Jane in and out. That [her foul trouble] took us out of our rhythm.

"But we had a lot of different players contribute. It takes all 11 [players]."

Sophomore guard Brooke Bohnert scored 10 points for Notre Dame, all coming in the first half.

Dohogne had nine points and seven rebounds to tie Morrill for the team lead. Sophomore guard Summer Burger, despite standing just 5 foot 3, grabbed six rebounds.

Notre Dame, after shutting out Dexter during the first quarter of Friday's district championship romp, got off to another strong start against Farmington.

With their pressure defense causing turnovers and their up-tempo offense producing fast-break layups, the Bulldogs piled up a 16-5 lead less than three minutes into the contest.

"That [the strong start] helped us out a lot," said Bradshaw, who matched Morrill with nine first-quarter points and finished the opening half with 12.

The Bulldogs, who never trailed, pretty much stayed in control the rest of the way save for the third quarter when Morrill was glued to the bench.

"Getting off to a good start was huge," Peters said. "That's one of the things we pride ourselves in. We like to get off to a fast start."

Now the Bulldogs will try to take one more step to the final four.

"I would love it," Dohogne said. "That would be very sweet."

Notre Dame 28 17 6 22 -- 73

Farmington 13 15 17 17 -- 62

NOTRE DAME (73) -- Allyson Bradshaw 21, Brooke Bohnert 10, Nicole Blattel 1, Meghan Dohogne 9, Jane Morrill 21, Katherine Blasiney 5, Lacy Boeller 3, Summer Burger 3. FG 22, FT 25-34, F 22. (3-pointers: Bradshaw 4, Morrill 1, Blasiney 1. Fouled out: Blattel, Morrill)

FARMINGTON (62) -- Erin Littrell 4, Jessica Hicks 2, Morgan Ankrom 20, Whitney Heuring 19, Brittany Ernst 5, Rachel Williams 12. FG 20, FT 21-29, F 28. (3-pointers: Ernst 1. Fouled out: Littrell)