A semifinal berth wasn’t meant to be for the Carl Junction Bulldogs.
The second-ranked West Plains Zizzers took control early and knocked off Carl Junction 61-42 in a quarterfinal contest of the Class 5 state girls basketball tournament on Saturday at the West Plains Civic Center.
In the quarterfinals for the fifth time in six seasons, Carl Junction finishes the season with a record of 18-9.
Carl Junction coach Brad Shorter looked on the bright side after the season-ending setback.
“If you would have told me at the beginning of the season that we’d be 18-9 and in the quarterfinals, I would have taken it,” Shorter told SoMo Sports in a postgame phone interview. “I’m excited about what we’ve got and the consistency we’ve had in our program. Hopefully this is another step for us and hopefully we can go further next year.”
The Bulldogs will return all but one player from this year’s squad, as Hannah Lee was the lone senior.
“She was a part of a ton of wins,” Shorter said of Lee. “I can’t say enough about the kid. She works really hard and she’s definitely going to be successful in whatever she decides to do. We’re going to miss her. We wish her the best.”
With just one starter back from last year’s 28-0 squad, youthful Carl Junction played the second half of the season without 6-foot-1 freshman forward Kylie Scott, a starter who suffered a season-ending wrist injury.
Shorter noted his young squad gained a lot of valuable experience this season.
“That’s huge going forward,” Shorter said. “We are very young. It was a season of ups and downs with injuries, quarantines and COVID and all that. With all of that, our youth made it difficult at times. But I thought our group really grew and progressed this year. I’m excited about what’s to come for this group and for our program.”
Ranked second in Class 5 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, West Plains scored the game’s first 14 points and never looked back.
Carl Junction finally got on the board with 3:15 remaining in the first period when Destiny Buerge hit three free throws.
Klohe Burk’s layup was the only Carl Junction field goal of the opening frame, and the Zizzers led 18-5.
The Bulldogs scored the first four points of the second quarter before both teams had a number of empty possessions. Carl Junction also had several turnovers in the low-scoring frame.
The Zizzers scored five straight points before Jessa Hylton’s layup got the visitors into double figures. But Ashton Judd’s hoop just before the buzzer gave West Plains a 25-11 lead at intermission.
Facing an active zone defense, the Bulldogs struggled offensively throughout the first half, as shots simply would not fall.
“They got off to that lead and we were struggling to make shots,” Shorter said. “They rebounded it exceptionally well. It was a big difference. I think a little bit of it was due to our youth and playing against a matchup zone. Our kids hadn’t seen it or experienced it yet or known the toughness of it. You have to tip your hat to West Plains.”
A trey from Burk and Buerge’s breakaway layup, her first hoop of the game, cut Carl Junction’s deficit to 31-16 with 4:10 left in the third quarter.
Buerge buried back-to-back treys late in the period, but Carl Junction trailed 39-23 entering the fourth quarter.
Treys from Buerge and Burk trimmed West Plains’ lead to 45-29 with 5:40 remaining, but there would be no comeback for the Bulldogs.
At the same time, Carl Junction scored 31 in the second half after being limited to 11 in the first two periods.
“I certainly loved the charge we had in the second half,” Shorter said. “We were resilient and continued to work. They never gave up. I thought our kids really competed hard all the way until the final buzzer.”
A sophomore guard, Buerge scored 20 points to lead the Bulldogs, with 16 coming in the second half. Buerge, who has already surpassed 1,000 career points as a sophomore, made four 3-pointers.
Burk, another sophomore, scored 11 points with three treys. A junior, Hylton added six points. Sophomore Hali Shorter and junior Ellie Lawson are two other players who will return with starting experience next winter.
Judd scored 22 points to lead the Zizzers and Allyssa Joyner had 15 points.
West Plains (27-3) advanced to Thursday’s semifinals, where they’ll meet Union (18-1) at 5 at JQH Arena in Springfield. It’s the first Final Four trip for the Zizzers in 23 years.
