DEXTER, Mo. -- If there's one thing winning teams hate, it's losing, and make no mistake about it, the Saxony Lutheran girls basketball team didn't like losing to Twin Rivers early in the regular season.
On Wednesday night, the Crusaders got the revenge they were looking for, putting the Royals on their heels from the opening tipoff and leaving them in the dust with a 62-32 victory in a Class 3 sectional at Dexter High School's Bearcat Event Center. It was Saxony's 22nd consecutive victory.
Twin Rivers defeated a shorthanded Saxony side 57-55 back on Dec. 14, but Wednesday night was a different story. With Raegan Wieser back from her ACL injury and Maddie Brune playing with two hands -- her dominant right hand was injured for the first meeting -- the Crusaders barely looked troubled, jumping out on a 7-0 run and leading by as many as 24 in the first half.
"We're competitive people, and we don't like losing," Wieser said. "But we knew coming in that they knew that they could beat us because they had before. We knew we had to come out ready to play from the start. That was the goal.
"We stayed focused. We're competitive, and we don't like losing. And now that it's postseason, it's that much more important, especially when you're seniors."
Saxony (26-2) held the Royals to single-digit points in three of four quarters, as Twin Rivers (19-10) hit just 4 of 21 field goals in the first half. The Crusaders also dominated on the boards in the first half, out-rebounding their opponents 22-8 in the first two quarters.
"[Twin Rivers] played better [in the first meeting], obviously," Saxony coach Sam Sides said. "They shot the ball better and we were missing two starters. ... And they out-played us; we didn't play very well. They deserved to win. Tonight I think we played a little bit smarter, shot the ball a little bit better, took care of the ball a little bit better, and it worked out in our favor.
"We did a lot better job on the boards. ... In districts, we got out-rebounded by Arcadia Valley, and we can't survive that way. We've got to battle on the boards. We can't take a play off. We've got to put a body on someone and go get it. I can't remember one offensive rebound they got in the first half, and that's big for us."
Along with doing things a little bit better, Saxony also had its key triumvirate together, with Brianna Mueller scoring 18 points, Wieser adding 16 and Grace Mirly chipping in with 14.
The Crusaders finished 26 of 46 (56.5 percent) from the floor.
Twin Rivers hit just 30.8 percent of their shots, finishing the night 12 of 39. Jaysea Morgan did the heavy lifting for the Royals, finishing with 17 points.
The Crusaders opened the game on a 7-0 run, as a steal led to an easy bucket for Wieser before Mirly converted on a conventional three-point play, all inside the game's first minute. Moments later, Mueller drove to the hoop, and Saxony's scoring leaders were all on the board.
Morgan dropped in a 3-pointer for the Royals with 5 minutes, 29 seconds left in the first, but the Crusaders continued to push their advantage. An 8-0 swing closed the first period, and Saxony took a 17-5 advantage into the second quarter.
That trend continued when Mueller and Wieser alternated buckets to send their side on an 8-0 blitz to open the period.
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When Morgan got the ball in transition and missed a wide-open layup midway through the quarter, it was clear the fates were with the Crusaders.
Twin Rivers finally ended an 8-minute, 36-second scoring drought when Emily Joiner sank a jump shot, but the Royals already found themselves in a 20-point hole, 27-7, with 3:24 left in the first half.
Cunningham scored to make it back-to-back baskets for Twin Rivers, but Saxony closed the half on a 9-2 run. Wieser slipped in a 3 at the buzzer, and the Crusaders went into the locker room in control, 36-12.
"They play the most fundamental defense we've played all year. I've just got more athletes than they do," Sides said. "You've got to execute against them -- they'll make you play."
The Royals played more cohesive in the third quarter and used a 9-2 run early in the quarter to cut the deficit to less than 20 points, as Morgan took a steal coast to coast at 4:11 of the period to make the score 40-21.
Saxony regained its footing and had an answer for each Twin Rivers bucket, with Mueller driving to the basket with 35 seconds left on the clock to give her side a 50-28 advantage going into the final eight minutes.
"I think they got looser and just started shooting the ball. We kind of sat back in the zone there and left them open, and I didn't want to watch much of that," Sides said. "I said, 'We're getting out of that and try to guard them.' ... We did a much better job of guarding them, and that was the biggest factor this time [compared] to last time."
If there was a question of whether the Crusaders had left the door cracked open, it was answered -- and the door was slammed shut -- as soon as the fourth quarter started. Wieser went on a personal 7-0 run, capped by an old-fashioned three-point play, before Wieser stealing the ball and dishing it to Tess Daniel in transition for an easy basket and a 59-28 lead with 5:43 left to play.
"When we came out in the second half, we definitely coasted, and Coach Sides reminded us of that," Wieser said. "After that, we picked it up and started playing like we should. We've got to realize that no matter what the lead, a team can always come back. These teams we're playing now are good, so we can't ever coast."
Saxony and Twin Rivers have faced off in sectionals four years in a row, with the Crusaders now having won the past three. The victory sets up a rematch for the Crusaders with defending state champion Park Hills Central (27-2) after the two teams played to a thrilling overtime finish a year ago, with Central edging Saxony 67-61.
The Class 3 quarterfinal will be played at 5 p.m. Saturday at Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Missouri.
"We've been looking forward to this and preparing for this all season. Ever since we lost last year," Wieser said. "We want this so much. When we went to state sophomore year. We had such a good time, and last year it obviously didn't end how we wanted it to. ... We want to go [to state]. There's nothing we want more."
Twin Rivers 5 7 16 4 -- 32
Saxony 17 19 14 12 -- 62
TWIN RIVERS (32) -- Kira Cunningham 3, Casey Douglas 2, Jaysea Morgan 17, Katelyn South 5, Emily Joiner 2, Kylee Lewis 3. FG 12-39, FT 4-8, F 9. (3-pointers: Cunningham, Morgan, South, Lewis. Fouled out: None.)
SAXONY LUTHERAN (62) -- Maddie Brune 3, Ali Galemmo 4, Raegan Wieser 16, Grace Mirly 14, Brianna Mueller 18, Tess Daniel 7. FG 26-46, FT 7-9, F 7. (3-pointers: Mueller 2, Wieser. Fouled out: None.)
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