WEBB CITY, Mo. — The quest for an eighth straight district championship continues for the Carl Junction girls basketball team.
Top-seeded Carl Junction cruised to a convincing 68-37 victory over fourth-seeded Grandview on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the Class 5 District 7 tournament inside the Cardinal Dome.
“Our program has been able to be a part of nine straight district title games, so that’s a pretty good run,” Carl Junction coach Brad Shorter said. “That’s a testament to our kids and how hard they play. It feels good to get back to another district title game. Hopefully we can get our eighth in a row.”
Carl Junction (27-1) will meet second-seeded Webb City (18-10) in the district title game at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
“Hopefully we’ll come out and play hard on Tuesday night,” Shorter said.
In the regular-season meeting, Carl Junction edged Webb City 56-53.
Ranked first in Class 5 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, Carl Junction is taking a 22-game winning streak into the title game.
GAME RECAP
In a clash between Bulldogs, Grandview stayed within striking distance early by hitting four 3-pointers in the opening frame.
Carl Junction received hoops from Klohe Burk, Destiny Buerge and Kylie Scott and treys from Hali Shorter and Burk to take a 17-8 lead.
Grandview’s Lariah Tucker drilled a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the first period to keep her squad within six.
Buerge scored the first five points of the second quarter, a 3-pointer and a layup, to extend CJ’s advantage to 22-11.
Grandview buried back-to-back 3-pointers to remain close, but Carl Junction responded with a game-changing 10-0 burst.
During the surge, Destiny Buerge recorded a pair of hoops, DeShaye Buerge added a bucket of her own in the paint and Burk converted two attempts at the foul line to give CJ a 32-17 cushion.
Grandview made 1-of-2 free throws late in the first half, trimming Carl Junction’s lead to 14 at the break.
“They hit some deep 3s early in the game,” Shorter said of Grandview. “But we’re going to stay in our matchup zone and we’re going to do what we do. Sometimes we have to live with a few of those 3s. When they make them from that deep, you tip your hat. But I think we needed to do a little better job of boxing out because they got some offensive rebounds and second chances. We shouldn’t have allowed some of those offensive rebounds.”
Carl Junction put the game away by outscoring Grandview 18-10 in the third period. Destiny Buerge took over in the quarter, knocking down three treys and a pair of 2-pointers in a 13-point outburst that gave Carl Junction a comfortable 50-28 advantage.
“She got on a roll,” Shorter said of his senior standout. “And we’d talked about getting her in the post. She had a smaller guard on her, so we wanted to take advantage of that. We were able to take advantage of that mismatch.”
The district’s top seed took a commanding 55-28 lead with seven minutes left in the game after buckets from Buerge and Scott.
Overall, Carl Junction outscored Grandview 18-9 in the fourth frame to account for the final score.
NAMES & NUMBERS
Tasked with going up against Carl Junction’s suffocating zone defense, Grandview made just 13-of-54 field goal attempts (24 percent), including 6-for-20 from 3-point range.
Grandview’s Micah Kirkwood and Tucker scored nine points apiece.
Carl Junction connected on 25-of-48 field goal attempts (52 percent), including 8-of-20 from beyond the arc (40 percent).
The Bulldogs assisted on 18 of their 25 made shots.
“That’s pretty good,” Shorter said of the stat. “We’re moving the ball pretty well. We’re moving it well in transition, and at times, we’re moving the ball in our halfcourt sets. We have to get better at that.”
Destiny Buerge poured in 31 points on 12-of-19 shooting to lead Carl Junction. A Pittsburg State-signee, Buerge made four treys and also handed out five assists to go with five steals.
A 6-3 junior forward, Scott contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double. Scott also blocked three shots.
Burk and DeShaye Buerge scored seven points apiece, Dezi Williams had four points and Jadyn Howard and Hali Shorter contributed three points apiece. Hali Shorter, a senior guard, handed out five assists.
Carl Junction will attempt to capture a district title for the eighth straight season on Tuesday night.
NOTE: See a separate story on Webb City’s 55-34 win over Bolivar.
