C4D1: Doniphan girls make pair of runs en route to 48-29 district championship win over Dexter

DEXTER — The Doniphan Donettes’ full-court pressure defense gave the team a lift in the second quarter.

After a low-scoring first quarter, the Donettes’ defense influenced 10 turnovers by the Bearcats in the second en route to a 48-29 victory in the championship game of the MSHSAA Class 4 District 1 Girls Basketball Tournament on Thursday night at the Bearcat Event Center.

Doniphan (24-3) won its first district championship since 2020.

“It feels amazing,” said Sydni Speck, who is one of Doniphan’s three seniors. “That’s the only word I have to describe it.”

Bailey Carson, Speck and Timber Turner played on the 2020 team that won a Class 3 district title.

“They weren’t major-time contributors, so this is going to be sweet for them,” Doniphan coach Adam Epps said. “I’m really happy for them.”

The Donetttes will meet Park Hills Central (20-5) in the sectional round at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Farmington Community Civic Center.

Dexter finished the season 13-12 for its first winning season since 2018-19.

“I have to credit my seniors for hanging in there because two years ago it was pretty rough,” said Dexter coach Eric Sitze of the five-win season. “All three of those girls (Magi McBride, Avery Neely and Dulcie Pullen) played as sophomores. I appreciate them for sticking it out, showing up everyday and working hard. They’re great kids and they have a great future ahead of them.”

Holding a 10-5 lead midway through the season quarter, the Donettes received a putback by Kenzie Redus and two steals on their end of the floor to spark a 12-0 run. Redus finished following the first steal and Alli Skaggs scored on the next turnover for a 17-5 lead.

Redus added her eighth point of the quarter, scoring on a feed from McKenna Monaghan. Brook Klepzig capped the rally with a 3-pointer, pushing the Donettes’ lead to 22-5, and they took a 22-7 lead into halftime.

Both teams struggled in the first quarter, combining for six points.

“We struggled on the offensive end, but they guard hard,” Sitze said. “You’ve got to credit Doniphan. They guard hard all game long. They wear you down with their depth. They make it hard for you on the offensive end. They’ve done a good job concentrating on Dulcie (in the teams’ three matchups this season — all Doniphan wins), making it hard on her. That hurts us offensively.”

Pullen finished with five points, about 10 points below her season average.

Doniphan’s Skaggs and Turner scored early for a 4-0 lead, and Dexter didn’t score until Kate Nichols sank a long jumper with 8 seconds left.

Doniphan shot 20% (2 for 10) in the first quarter, and the Bearcats went 1 for 7 (14%) from the field. The teams combined for 13 turnovers, including seven by Dexter.

“They’re a disciplined team. They are mentally tough. We knew it was going to take awhile,” Epps said of his team’s ability to get easy shots off its defense. “Keep plugging away, keep plugging away and there may be spurts here and there, and there were.”

Behind strong rebounding, the Donettes stretched the lead to 28-7 early in the third quarter, gaining multiple shots on more than one occasion, including a putback by Skaggs to give her team the 21-point lead.

The Bearcats scored 11 of the next 13 points to cut the lead to 30-18 on a steal and layup by Abbie Lloyd, who finished with a team-high eight points.

Skaggs’ basket gave Doniphan a 32-18 lead going into the final quarter.

Nichols opened the fourth with a 3-pointer to cut the Donettes’ lead t0 11, but Dexter came no closer the rest of the way. Lloyd’s 3 sliced the lead to 36-24 before they scored 10-straight points to clinch the victory.

“We put the throttle down,” Epps said. “We threw it away a couple times. They hit a couple tough shots, which you know they’re going to do. They’re not going to shoot 15% the whole game long. They’re going to make shots, but we stayed the course and got some leaders in there and they took care of the ball. They did what they were supposed to do.”

Speck made four-straight free throws to open the run, Skaggs scored a pair of baskets inside and Carson scored on an inbounds pass for a 46-24 lead.

Overall, Doniphan held the Bearcats to 28% shooting (11 for 40).

“Defense led the way for us,” Epps said. “A lot of times in these games, nerves are like … you don’t see a lot of high-scoring games this time of year. I was proud of them. They did enough to get the job done.”

Doniphan didn’t have a great shooting night either, making only 19 of 51 (37%) of its shots.

Dexter 2 5 11 11 — 29

Doniphan 4 18 10 16 — 48

DEXTER — Abbie Lloyd 8, Kate Nichols 7, Caitlin Giles 5, Dulcie Pullen 5, Magi McBride 2, Avery Neely 2. FG 11 FT 3-7 F 18. (3-pointers: Lloyd 2, Nichols, Pullen. Fouled out: none.)

DONIPHAN — Alli Skaggs 12, Kenzie Redus 8, Timber Turner 8, Bailey Carson 6, Sydni Speck 6, Brook Klepzig 4, McKenna Monaghan 4. FG 19 FT 9-17 F 14. (3-pointers: Klepzig. Fouled out: Turner.)