Saxony Lutheran drop senior night to Doniphan

The Saxony Lutheran girl's basketball team put forth one of their best efforts of the season Tuesday night in a late-season showdown with Class 4 state-ranked Doniphan and held their own for three quarters, but succumbed to a fourth-quarter blitz by the Donettes, losing 60-44 on senior night at Saxony Lutheran High School.

Although the Lady Crusaders lost to the high-powered offense of Doniphan, who average right at 60 points per game and hold its opponents to just 37 points per game, Saxony Lutheran coach Sam Sides was relatively pleased with how his girls performed, “I thought we played pretty well against one of the better teams in the state in our class,” Sides said. “We hung right with them for most of the game but their size and quickness got to us there in the fourth quarter, but I was really happy for our seniors because they played a little more than they normally would and they all stepped up and played well.”

Saxony Lutheran stood toe-to-toe with the Donettes through the first quarter, tying the game up at six points each at the end of the quarter as Doniphan shot relatively cold from the field

The Donettes' defense started to impose its will to start the second quarter as the visitors grabbed an 18-12 lead at the 4:30 mark before halftime and lengthened their lead to 10 points at the end of the half, taking a 27-17 lead into intermission.

The third quarter saw both teams come out firing as the Lady Crusaders outscored Doniphan 17-13 to cut into the lead with a period ending 41-34 score heading into the final quarter.

The 23-win Donettes outscored Saxony Lutheran down the stretch 19-10 as seniors Gracen Kirby and Brook Klepzig along with junior Kenzie Redus each scored six points, giving Doniphan a 16-point victory.

Kirby led the offensive attack for the Donettes with a game-high 17 points followed by Redus’s 14 points. Klepzig gave Doniphan 12 points, scoring nine of those from beyond the three-point arc.

For her final home game, Saxony Lutheran senior Emma Dunning paced the Lady Crusaders with 12 points followed by a nine-point performance from junior Evie Caruso and eight points from Rebecca Johnson.

Both Doniphan (23-2) and Saxony Lutheran (12-12) are in the Class 4, District 1 tournament at Dexter where the Donettes are the one seed and the Lady Crusaders are the two seed.

“I hope staying with them like we did tonight gives us confidence heading into districts,” Sides said. “You look at their record and you see 23-2 and sometimes you get intimidated by that but I thought we didn't show any signs of that tonight. I think we showed tonight we aren't afraid of them.”

Doniphan will play its final regular season game Friday as they host Jackson at 7:30 p.m. at Doniphan High School.

Saxony Lutheran will await the winner of the district quarterfinal matchup between third-seeded Fredericktown and six-seeded Kennett on March 2 at 7 p.m.