CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — The Carl Junction girls basketball team dominated the Glendale Falcons at home on Thursday night, winning 61-40.
CJ had a huge first quarter, rattling off 24 points, thanks in large part to sophomore Destiny Buerge’s big night. She scored 13 points in the first quarter alone. Despite scoring the first basket of the game, Glendale quickly fell behind and would be unable to catch up the rest of the game. The Bulldogs led 24-9 at the end of the first.
The game slowed down in the second quarter as both teams started played stronger defense. Buerge went 2-for-4 from the line with four field goals to give her 19 points going into halftime. Junior Jessa Hylton also had two baskets from beyond the 3-point line, giving her 11 points in the first half. Glendale kept pace, adding eight points to their total to make the score 36-17 going into the break.
Buerge once again came out firing in the second half, scoring nine of the Bulldog’s 11 points that quarter. She also made her lone free throw after an impressive basket also led to the and-one. Glendale did their best to claw their way back, scoring 10 points of their own in the third, but even with an improved defense, the deficit was too much to overcome.
The Bulldogs entered the fourth sporting a 47-27 lead.
To finish out the game Buerge scored just one more basket, giving her 30 points on the night. “Destiny did a nice job of attacking the basket early,” Carl Junction coach Brad Shorter said. “You never want to take the aggressiveness out of kids, so we are happy with her driving to the basket and providing opportunities for others.”
Although Buerge had a quiet fourth quarter, freshman Kylie Scott picked up the slack. She scored four baskets and accounted for eight of Carl Junction’s final 14 points.
As a team, the Bulldogs went 4-for-7 from the free throw line and also got two baskets by senior Hannah Lee.
“We wanted to have the same energy we had Monday, come out and make sure we are playing hard and playing together,” Coach Shorter said. “We did a better job not turning the ball over tonight, but we need to improve our rebounding. Glendale played some really strong defense, and we just wanted to make sure we had good sharp cuts, moved the ball and pushed it up the court.”
Coach Shorter was also honored with the 2019-2020 Missouri Coach of the Year Award, presented by MSHSAA and NFHS, in between games. The award is presented to an individual who has made a life-long commitment to the ideals of coaching interscholastic sports.
