On to the quarters

PARK HILLS -- Meadow Heights yielded 40 points to Bismarck junior guard Brooke Taylor during the Class 2 sectional Wednesday night, but Panthers coach Mitch Nanney could live with that.

His team came out with a 74-70 victory and a spot in Saturday's quarterfinal round against Couch.

"Coach said she will make at least 25 points," sophomore Heather Dietiker said.

"I thought we did a pretty good job on her, but Brooke is a phenomenal ballplayer," Nanney said. "Our goal was we were going to defend her one-on-one, we were going to defend everybody else one-on-one, and if she can beat us by herself than we're going to let her do it."

She didn't, as the Panthers (21-6) used a balanced attack, timely free-throw shooting and a defense that was good enough when it needed to be.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian.comMeadow Heights' Whitney Welker scores two points against Bismarck's Brooke Taylor in the second half of a Panther victory 74-70 in the Class 2 state sectional Wednesday night at Park Hills.

Freshman Whitney Welker scored 24 points and grabbed 22 rebounds. Dietiker added 21 points with two 3-pointers, Hattie Cook had 14 with three 3s and Ashley Doublin scored 11 points with two 3s.

The foursome combined to hit 10 of 12 free throws in the final 2 minutes to hold off Bismarck's comeback bid.

Meadow Heights picked up two points each from senior Chelsey Kight, a mainstay since the program's inception four years ago; and Gina Cureton, a 5-foot-2 sophomore who was among the players rotated to guard the 6-0 Taylor, one of the top guards in Class 2. Taylor finished 14 of 29 shooting for the night, including three 3s.

"Gina is one our best defenders," Nanney said. "She may be our best on-ball defender, and she's coming off two ACL surgeries in the last year's time. She's still our quickest defender. She relishes that challenge and was just champing at the bit to guard her."

Playing in the state playoffs for the first time, Meadow Heights will have another challenge 2:45 p.m. Saturday at the West Plains Civic Center. Couch (26-3), ranked fourth in the state, hammered top-ranked Portageville 60-45 on Wednesday.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian.comMeadow Heights' Ashley Doublin prepares to shoot a free throws during the final minutes of the Panthers' victory over Bismarck in a Class 2 sectional game Wednesday.

"If we play well enough, we can beat, I think, anybody in the 2A," Nanney said. "But again, we have to play well."

The Panthers did that from start to finish without any playoff jitters Wednesday at Park Hills Central.

Cook and Doublin combined for three treys in the first period while Dietiker added easy baskets off the press-break and the Panthers rolled to an 18-12 lead after one period.

"We've worked the last three days on their 3-2 zone," Nanney said, "and we brought one of our boys players to practice against us just to show us what Brooke's wingspan is. We had a lot of confidence working against the 3-2 zone. We found a lot of gaps we could get into for shots and we have some good shooters that can knock them down."

The Panthers bumped the lead to seven, 29-22, in the second period before their good work nearly went for nought when Taylor hit a 3-pointer with 5 seconds left in the half to pull the Indians within 36-35. But Cook answered with a 3 on the other end as time expired.

Meadow Heights' Gina Cureton jumps for a loose ball during the second half Wednesday night in Park Hills.

Meadow Heights took a 51-48 lead into the final period, which Dietiker opened with a trey. Welker scored on three of four possessions to maintain the lead at 60-55.

"I was really nervous probably until the third quarter," Welker said. "But I just kind of calmed down a little bit and I realized it's sectionals and I just need to play."

Welker's fourth basket of the quarter gave the Panthers a 62-57 lead, and Dietiker followed with a basket on the fast break to bump the lead to seven with 3 minutes to play.

Bismarck (22-5) cut the lead to three when Taylor blocked a shot and scored on a break with 3:15 to go, but she missed a layup on the next possession, and Meadow Heights went into the stall.

While Meadow Heights maintained its lead via the free throw, Taylor hit a 3 to cut the lead to 71-68 with 48 seconds to play. The difference was two, 72-70, after Tori Henson's layup off an inbounds play with 17 seconds to play, but Cook's free throws with 15.8 seconds to play closed out scoring. Meadow Heights made one more steal after a scramble for the ball at midcourt.

Meadow Heights' Hattie Cook scores during the first half.

"We shoot free throws all the time in practice and usually we always make them," said Welker, who had two of those 10 free throws in the end. "I was really confident in my teammates."

The Panthers had been just 5 of 13 from the line up to the closing run.

"I felt good about the kids we had at the line," Nanney said. "Those kids have hit pressure shots all year long and those are our best free-throw shooters. We made them when we had to."

@z_agate_HSbasketball_linescore:Bismarck12231322--70

Meadow Hts18211223--74

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:BISMARCK (70) -- Cassie Fenwick 1, Holly Blunt 9, Brooke Taylor 40, Torrie Helms 12, Tori Henson 8. FG 26, FT 15-21, F 19. (3-pointers: Taylor 3. Fouled out: Helms)

MEADOW HEIGHTS (74) -- Hattie Cook 14, Ashley Doublin 11, Gina Cureton 2, Heather Dietiker 21, Whitney Welker 24, Chelsey Kight 2. FG 26, FT 15-25, F 18 (3-pointers: Cook 3, Doublin 2, Dietiker 2. Fouled out: None)