Notre Dame, Perryville out in semis

The Notre Dame and Perryville girls basketball teams were eliminated from postseason play Thursday night, each dropping semifinal decisions in the Class 4 District 1 tournament at Sikeston.

No. 4 seed Notre Dame lost 55-48 to top-seeded Fredericktown.

Perryville, the No. 3 seed, failed to hold an eight-point lead in the second half before bowing 37-31 to second-seeded Dexter, the defending district champion.

Fredericktown (22-4) and Dexter (19-5) will meet for the district championship tonight at 6.

Notre Dame's season ended at 14-12 while Perryville finished 17-8.

Notre Dame lost in the district semifinal for the second straight year.

The Bulldogs shot just 33 percent from the field (21 of 63), including 23.1 percent in the third period when they were outscored 15-7 and fell behind 41-29.

"The third quarter got us," Notre Dame coach Jerry Grim said. "They outrebounded us in the third quarter and we didn't get to the [free throw] line."

Fredericktown had 14 blocked shots -- 11 by 6-foot junior Betsy Royer -- and for the game was 15 of 25 from the free throw line, while Notre Dame was 4 of 11.

"They just played harder than we did," Grim said. "They hit the shots. They beat us on free throws.

"We outrebounded them, but we had a decent number of turnovers."

Sophomore Courtney Kemp led Fredericktown with 22 points.

Notre Dame was led by Kristain Burger's 22 points. Meridith Medlin added 10.

Pirates overtaken

In the nightcap, Dexter outscored Perryville 24-10 to close the game.

The Pirates had led 14-11 at halfime and built a 21-13 advantage midway through the third period. But the Pirates went cold.

After Dexter closed the quarter with an 8-1 run, the Bearcats had a 16-9 edge in the fourth, never surrendering the lead after the first basket of the period.

Perryville missed five straight free throws, including three one-and-one situations, in the fourth quarter.

"We are usually a pretty good free throw shooting team, and when we had opportunities to shoot some in the fourth quarter, we didn't capitalize," Perryville coach Vicki Lohmann said. "Dexter stepped in and made their free throws and we didn't."

Dexter hit 14 of 18 free throws in the fourth quarter to ice the victory.

Krista Miesner led Perryville with 17 points. Amber Hacker was held to nine points.

Both players topped the 1,000 career points recently.

"Meisner and Hacker have been our leading scorers the last two years and were excellent contributors to our program," said Lohmann, whose team had seven seniors, including five starters. "All the players developed from the time they were freshmen and contributed."

The Pirates even returned senior Becky Bachmann for district play after a serious knee injury suffered during the season.

Fredericktown 55, Notre Dame 48

Notre Dame 11 11 7 19 -- 48

Fredericktown 14 12 15 14 -- 55

NOTRE DAME (48) -- Kristain Burger 22, Meridith Medlin 10, Brooke Beussink 6, Claudia Brauss 4, Miranda Schlosser 2, Paige Schumer 2, Amanda Toole 2. FG 21, FT 4-11, F 20 (3-pointers: Beussink 1, Medlin 1. Fouled out: none)

FREDERICKTOWN (55) -- Courtney Kemp 22, Amy Hendricks 12, Nikki Settemoir 8, Betsy Royer 7, Jesse Brown 4, Johna Tinnin 2. FG 19, FT 15-25, F 9 (3-pointers: Kemp 1, Hendricks 1. Fouled out: none)

Dexter 37, Perryville 31

Perryville 2 12 8 9 -- 31

Dexter 8 3 10 16 -- 37

PERRYVILLE (31) -- Krista Miesner 17, Amber Hacker 9, Bethany Steffans 2, Alyssa Bauwens 2, Annette Weibrecht 1. FG 9, FT 10-18, F 20. (3-pointers: Miesner 1. Fouled out: Miesner)

DEXTER (37) -- Haylee Finch 12, Taylor Nelson 10, Natalie Hayes 8, Molly Burleson 3, Amanda Dooley 2, Mindy Jones 2. FG 7, FT 17-24, F 19. (3-pointers: Nelson 1, Finch 1. Fouled out: none)