WEBB CITY, Mo. — In more ways than one, the number eight is suddenly quite meaningful for the Carl Junction High School girls basketball team.
For starters, top-seeded Carl Junction captured the program’s eighth straight district championship by beating second-seeded Webb City 67-42 on Tuesday night in the title game of the Class 5 District 7 tournament inside a packed Cardinal Dome.
The number eight is significant for another reason, as the Bulldogs are now one of the final eight teams still playing in Class 5.
“It feels good to keep the streak going,” Carl Junction coach Brad Shorter said. “Our kids believed. I thought we did a good job of limiting their opportunities. They usually got one shot and that was it. It’s all about rebounding and defense. When we do those two things well, we’re pretty tough to beat.”
Carl Junction’s seniors have contributed to four straight district titles.
“This is very exciting,” Carl Junction senior guard Destiny Buerge said moments after scoring 36 points. “We’ve won four district championships in the four years I’ve been playing high school basketball. It’s the best. It means a lot to keep the streak going. It shows how much work we’ve put in.”
The district title streak started in 2016.
“Those first district championships started a long time ago and I got to be a part of those on the bench,” Carl Junction senior guard Hali Shorter said. “We used to be little kids in the stands, so to be a part of this now means a lot to us. We wanted to keep the tradition going.”
After building an 11-point lead by intermission, the Bulldogs scored the first 11 points of the third period to put the game away.
“That was huge for us,” Coach Shorter said of the third quarter surge. “I think that proved to be the difference in the game.”
NAMES & NUMBERS
Ranked first in Class 5 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, Carl Junction improved to 28-1 with a 23rd straight victory.
Buerge made 12-of-24 field goal attempts and 10-of-14 free throws to finish with a game-high 36 points. Buerge, a Pittsburg State recruit, also compiled 12 rebounds and four assists.
Senior guard Klohe Burk had 12 points, making a trio of 3-pointers to go with three steals.
Junior forward Kylie Scott scored seven points and handed out four assists, while freshman Jadyn Howard had five points, sophomore Dezi Williams added four points and Hali Shorter contributed three points, two assists and two steals.
“I thought Jadyn Howard and Anna Burch did a great job off the bench with Kylie (Scott) got into a little foul trouble,” Coach Shorter noted. “They played huge for us. Obviously, Destiny and Klohe were tough for us. They did some great things.”
The Bulldogs shot 41 percent (24-of-58), including 6-of-21 from 3-point range (29 percent). Carl Junction went just 13-of-27 at the charity stripe.
Carl Junction’s suffocating zone defense limited the Cardinals to 35 percent shooting (17-of-49). Webb City made just 5-of-25 attempts from beyond the arc (20 percent). The Cardinals also left quite a few points out there by going 3-for-11 at the foul line.
Webb City had 18 turnovers to Carl Junction’s seven.
Webb City’s game plan was no secret, as the Cardinals looked to work inside-out by pounding the ball inside to 6-foot-5 sophomore center Sami Mancini for hoops in the paint or kick-outs to the team’s perimeter shooters.
Mancini finished with 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting to go along with 19 rebounds. But no one else for Webb City scored more than six points.
“She’s such a presence inside and she’s going to get her points,” Coach Shorter said of Mancini. “She’s a great player. I thought we did a good job on her when we were at full-strength.”
After Mancini’s 23 points, junior point guard Mia Robbins scored six, junior guard Malorie Stanley and sophomore guard Kirra Long each scored five and senior guard Izzy Lopez had three.
Senior guard Kate Brownfield handed out five assists and grabbed four boards.
Webb City concludes the season with a record of 18-11. The 18 wins are the most for the program since 2014.
Brownfield and Lopez played their final game for the Cardinals, who were attempting to win a district title for the first time since 2014.
“I’m proud of our girls and I’m proud of the progress we made this year,” Webb City coach Lance Robbins said. “I think our program is headed in the right direction. We’ve raised the bar. We’re going to miss our two seniors. Kate and Izzy did a great job and they’re great leaders. I’m confident our team will work hard to get better and hopefully we’ll find ourselves playing for a district title next year.”
GAME RECAP
When these two teams met at the end of the regular season, Carl Junction held on late for a three-point win. There was no suspense in the final minutes this time around.
Faced with a win or go home scenario, and playing in an electric environment, Carl Junction led 15-8 at the end of the first quarter.
The Bulldogs extended their lead to 28-15 after treys from Shorter, Buerge and Burk and a hoop inside from Howard.
The Cardinals trimmed their deficit to eight after two hoops in the paint from Mancini and another from Stanley.
Led by Buerge’s 16 first half points, Carl Junction held a 32-21 lead at halftime.
After the break, the Bulldogs put together their game-changing 11-0 run to pull away for good. A 3-pointer from the top of the key from Burk capped the spurt and made it 43-21.
Webb City responded with nine straight points, but the tourney hosts trailed 47-30 entering the fourth quarter.
Free throws from Scott and Buerge, followed by a layup from Buerge after a Webb City turnover gave CJ a comfortable 52-32 lead with six minutes to play.
Webb City’s only lead of the night came at 2-0.
“We didn’t get off to a very good start offensively,” Coach Robbins said. “Defensively, we missed some assignments early in the game and that gave them some open looks that they knocked down. I thought Carl Junction was playing with more confidence than we were early in the game. We were able to keep it close in the first half, but Destiny kind of took over in the third quarter. We didn’t have an answer for her. Carl Junction is a good basketball team, and when Destiny is playing like that, and their role players can shoot it like they did tonight, they’re tough to beat.”
PACKED DOME
Webb City’s Cardinal Dome was packed on Tuesday night, making for a great atmosphere for the district title game.
“It was a fantastic environment for the girls,” Coach Robbins said. “It was a packed house and that’s great for girls basketball in Southwest Missouri.”
“It was an awesome atmosphere tonight,” Hali Shorter said. “I’ll remember this atmosphere for a long time. It was awesome.”
“It might have been the best environment we’ve played in,” Buerge said. “That might have been the best student section we’ve ever had. I’m glad they showed up for this game.”
“It was great in here tonight,” Coach Shorter added. “It was two teams getting after each other.”
ELITE EIGHT
Carl Junction advances to the quarterfinals of the Class 5 state tournament and will play District 8 champion Lincoln College Prep (17-9) at 1:45 p.m. on Saturday at State Fair Community College in Sedalia.
“We’re starting to figure some things out and we want to peak at the right time,” Coach Shorter said. “We hope that’s coming at some point.”
“We have to keep pushing game by game,” Buerge added. “We just have to keep working hard in the gym.”
DISTRICT TITLE STREAK
Since falling to McDonald County in the district title game in 2015, Carl Junction’s girls basketball program has now won eight consecutive district championships.
Below is a look back at Carl Junction’s title streak.
Carl Junction’s recent district championships
2016 — Carl Junction 52, Carthage 46
2017 — Carl Junction 57, Cassville 26
2018 — Carl Junction 51, Webb City 37
2019 — Carl Junction 42, Webb City 14
2020 — Carl Junction 72, Webb City 32
2021 — Carl Junction 55, Webb City 52
2022 — Carl Junction 65, Willard 60
2023 — Carl Junction 67, Webb City 42
