WEBB CITY, Mo. — Late in Saturday’s rivalry game with Webb City, Destiny Buerge glanced up at the massive scoreboard that hangs above center court.
The Cardinal Dome’s impressive unit displays the point totals for each player on the floor.
When Buerge saw the large number next to her number, the Carl Junction standout had the type of reaction you’d expect.
“I looked up and I was like, ‘Oh dang,'” Buerge said. “I didn’t realize I had that many.”
Call it an eye-opening performance.
Buerge’s career-high 48 points led the Carl Junction girls basketball team to a convincing 76-50 Central Ozark Conference win over Webb City.
A 5-foot-6 sophomore guard, Buerge made 13 field goals—11 2-pointers and two 3-pointers. She also converted 20-of-22 free-throw attempts.
“It’s really exciting,” Buerge said of her memorable outing. “But I couldn’t have done it without my teammates getting me open, getting me the ball and getting the driving lanes open for me.”
“She’s very capable of doing that,” Carl Junction coach Brad Shorter said of Buerge’s offensive outburst. “She can score in large amounts in a hurry. What’s helping her is getting the ball to other kids and them getting it back to her, as opposed to trying to score against a loaded floor or defense. She played outstanding. I’m very proud of her. Destiny puts a heck of a lot of work in. She’s working at it all the time. I’m just happy to see it’s paying off for her.”
Buerge’s previous career-high was 33 points, which came on Jan. 12 against Carthage. The 48 points is likely a school record for a CJ girls basketball player.
“It really means a lot,” Buerge said. “I didn’t expect to come out and drop 48 points. I just played my game and worked with my teammates.”
After erupting for 28 points in the second quarter, Carl Junction built a 20-point lead by intermission at 40-20.
The second half was nearly even, 36-30 in favor of Carl Junction, but the Cardinals were unable to make a serious dent in their deficit.
The game was played on Saturday after Tuesday’s clash was postponed due to weather. The contest was moved to Webb City because Carl Junction was hosting a wrestling district tournament.
“To lose a home game against a rival is tough,” Shorter noted. “Having to go to their place is tough. But our kids responded well and fought hard.”
Ranked 10th in Class 5, the Bulldogs are now 13-7 overall and 3-3 in the COC. The Cardinals are 7-11 and 2-4 in the conference.
“We didn’t do a very good job defensively,” Webb City coach Lance Robbins said. “Our team defense was not up to par. It hasn’t been up to par the last few games. We have to get better defensively if we’re going to have any type of success going forward.”
NAMES & NUMBERS
In addition to Buerge’s 48, sophomore guard Klohe Burk scored 10 points, hitting two 3-pointers, while senior forward Hannah Lee chipped in six points.
Rounding out the scoring for the Bulldogs, Jessa Hylton had four points while Hali Shorter and Anna Burch contributed three points apiece.
“I thought we moved the ball really well,” Shorter said. “I thought our kids played hard. They took advantage of quality looks and knocked those down. I thought Ellie Lawson and Jessa Hylton did a fabulous job defensively, too. I thought all of our kids played really hard today.”
Senior guard Jaydee Duda led Webb City with 17 points on six field goals and five free throws.
Freshman Malorie Stanley and senior Sierra Kimbrough scored eight points apiece for Webb City, while junior Peyton Hawkins had seven and freshman Mia Robbins chipped in five.
Also for the hosts, Kate Brownfield contributed three points and Josie Spikereit had two.
GAME RECAP
Carl Junction led 9-2 right away, with Buerge scoring seven.
The Cardinals rattled off five straight points, an old-fashioned 3-point play by Robbins and a hoop by Duda, to pull within two.
Hali Shorter buried a 3-pointer to give the Bulldogs a 12-7 advantage heading into the second quarter.
Carl Junction owned the second quarter, outscoring the Cardinals 28-13.
Treys from Burk and Buerge, along with hoops from Hylton and Lee, pushed Carl Junction’s lead to 22-9 with five minutes remaining in the second quarter.
Webb City countered with buckets from Stanley, Spikereit and Duda, to cut their deficit to 11.
But Carl Junction closed out the first half on a 10-1 run. The spurt was capped by a trey from the top of the key by Burk, giving the Bulldogs a 40-20 advantage at the break.
Buerge had 19 points in the first half and then put up 29 more in the second half.
Buerge had 13 points in the back-and-forth third period and Carl Junction led 55-34.
The younger sister of former Webb City and Missouri Southern standout Desirea Buerge scored 16 in the final frame to finish off an impressive performance.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Webb City hosts Neosho on Tuesday, while Carl Junction is at Joplin on Tuesday. Both of those dates are weather permitting of course.
