WILLARD, Mo. — The Carl Junction Bulldogs survived and advanced.
They also captured the program’s seventh straight district championship.
In a game that wasn’t decided until the final seconds, top-seeded Carl Junction earned a hard-fought 65-60 win over second-seeded Willard on Friday in the championship game of the Class 5 District 6 girls basketball tournament at Willard High School.
Seventh-ranked Carl Junction (22-7) will meet second-ranked West Plains (24-4) in the quarterfinal round at 1 p.m. on March 12 at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar.
This one went down to the wire.
The Bulldogs used a 10-0 run in the first quarter to pull away at 13-4, with Klohe Burk hitting a 3-pointer and Destiny Buerge scoring seven during the surge. Kylie Scott’s putback gave Carl Junction a 17-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Bulldogs took a 10-point lead early in the second period on Buerge’s layup, but the Tigers responded with a 10-2 run.
It was close the rest of the way.
Willard took a 30-29 lead after back-to-back treys from Morgan Hall and Brielle Adamson, but Buerge buried a 3-pointer to give the Bulldogs a 32-30 lead at the half.
Adamson, who recently surpassed 1,000 career points, scored 16 in the first half for the Tigers.
The Bulldogs held a seven-point lead early in the third quarter, but the advantage was down to three by the end of the frame at 44-41.
Carl Junction was clinging to a 51-49 lead in the fourth quarter when Scott scored eight straight points for the Bulldogs during an 8-5 run that made it 59-54 with 1:20 left.
The Tigers had an empty possession and then fouled with under a minute to play, but the Bulldogs missed the front end of the one-and-one.
Willard’s Madison Mills hit a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left to cut CJ’s lead to two.
On the other end, Buerge drew a foul and then hit two clutch free throws to give her team a four-point lead with just over 30 seconds to play.
As they did all night, the Tigers kept coming. Willard’s Carolina Crawford knocked down a corner trey with just over 10 seconds to go.
Up one, Carl Junction took a timeout with 10 seconds left. Buerge was fouled with 7.9 seconds left. The standout junior guard came up big by connecting on both at the charity stripe.
Next, and with a chance to tie, Willard missed a shot from long range and then fouled with a second left. Dezi Williams hit two charities for the final margin.
Carl Junction’s Buerge scored a game-high 25 points, with 15 in the first half. She hit three treys.
A sophomore forward, Scott added 19 points, with 15 coming in the second half.
Also for the Bulldogs, Burk had seven points and Hali Shorter contributed six points on two treys, including a key make early in the final frame. Williams, just a freshman, added six points, while sophomore Anna Burch rounded out the scoring with two points.
The Tigers hit 13 3-pointers in the game.
Adamson scored 18 points for the Tigers, who end the season at 13-16. Hall added 12 points for Willard, while Mills contributed 10.
West Plains beat Rolla 41-28 in the District 5 championship game.
The Zizzers defeated the Bulldogs in last year’s quarterfinals. This year’s clash will determine who advances to the Final Four in Springfield.
