ST. VINCENT SQUAWS FALL IN DISTRICT TITLE SHOWDOWN

FREDERICKTOWN, Mo. -- The St. Vincent High girls basketball team saw its hopes of a district championship dashed Friday night by a strong Viburnum squad.

Top-seeded Viburnum coasted past the second-seeded Squaws 59-34 in the finals of the Class 1A, District 3 Tournament.

Viburnum moves on to regional play Monday night with a 21-5 record while St. Vincent ends its season at 11-14.

Jessica McGee paced Viburnum with 20 points, Jessica Coleman had 15 and Donna Coleman added 11.

St. Vincent's lone double-figure scorer was Chelsey Brown with 10 points.

Viburnum led just 7-3 after one quarter before building a 25-14 halftime advantage. It was 43-25 entering the final period.

In the boys final, top-seeded South Iron rallied past third-seeded Viburnum 71-68.

Chad Middleton poured in 25 points for South Iron (22-3), which trailed 35-30 at halftime and 56-47 entering the fourth quarter. Matt Davis added 18 points for the winners while Brad Savage had 15.

Derrek Sumpter paced Viburnum (17-8) with 18 points. Also in double figures were Shawn Davis with 15, Kyle Turnbough with 14 and Adam Harris with 12.

Class 2A, District 1

MALDEN, Mo. -- Caruthersville won its first-ever boys district title as the top-seeded Tigers knocked off third-seeded Twin Rivers 71-62.

The Tigers (21-6) trailed 33-28 at halftime but rallied behind a big second half.

"That's the way we've played all year," said Caruthersville coach Kevin Williams, a student assistant coach at Southeast Missouri State University the past few years who is in his first season at Caruthersville. "We start slow in the second half but then we really turn it on in the second half.

"It's the first time in school history we've gotten this far and it was an emotional time for everybody."

Chris Springer led the Tigers with 19 points. Also in double figures were Bryant Rogers with 18, Erick Hubbard with 15 and Norman Prather with 14.

Caruthersville advances to Wednesday night's sectional game against Notre Dame at Cape Central.

In the girls district final, No. 1 Twin Rivers beat No. 2 Malden. No score was available. Twin Rivers will play Notre Dame in the sectional round Wednesday at Cape Central.