Notre Dame girls basketball team squeezes past Meadow Heights to reach Holiday Classic final

Meadow Heights roared back every time Notre Dame seemed ready to pull away.

That was to be expected from the evenly matched high school girls basketball teams that have waged three heart-stopping battles in the span of one year.

Notre Dame won the latest thriller, 64-59 on Wednesday night in the semifinals of the Kelso Supply Holiday Classic at the Show Me Center.

"It was an intense game," Notre Dame senior guard Brooke Bohnert said.

The third-seeded Bulldogs will shoot for their third consecutive Holiday Classic title when they play top-seeded Jackson at 8:30 p.m. today.

Notre Dame's Brooke Bohnert shoots over Meadow Heights' Taylor Cureton during the first quarter of their Kelso Supply Holiday Classic semifinal game Wednesday at the Show Me Center. (Laura Simon)

Second-seeded Meadow Heights will face fifth-seeded Farmington at 7 p.m. for third place.

"We're so young and so little," Notre Dame coach Renee Peters said. "I wanted this for the girls. It's going to build confidence."

Notre Dame and Meadow Heights first hooked up in last year's Holiday Classic championship game. The Bulldogs rallied late to pull out a 63-61 win.

The squads met again Dec. 5 this season, with the visiting Panthers prevailing 56-54.

That set the stage for Wednesday's meeting, which featured seven lead changes and five ties.

"We've had three barnburners with them," Peters said.

Notre Dame (5-3) used a 14-3 run late in the third quarter to open a nine-point lead that was the game's largest.

The Bulldogs, who led 43-37 entering the final period, built three more nine-point advantages only to see Meadow Heights (7-2) close within one point twice.

"They have an awesome team," Notre Dame junior forward Miranda Fowler said about the Panthers. "They're a pretty tough team to beat."

Notre Dame made enough plays down the stretch to hold off the Panthers. One of the biggest was an inside basket by Bohnert with just more than a minute left after Meadow Heights pulled within 58-57.

"We knew we just had to keep our composure," Bohnert said.

Bohnert, who had a big tournament to help Notre Dame capture the title last year, came up huge again Wednesday.

The sweet-shooting Bohnert scored 24 points, many coming on midrange jumpers.

"I guess I was feeling it," Bohnert said. "I just shot it when I was open."

Fowler, Notre Dame's tallest player at 5 foot 10, also does much of her damage from the outside. She added 17 points.

"Brooke and Miranda really kept us in the game," Peters said. "Brooke stepped up. She was sick the first time we played Meadow Heights this year and had limited minutes."

Fowler's 15-footer with three minutes left in the third quarter put Notre Dame up 34-32. The Bulldogs never relinquished the lead.

Fowler's 3-pointer about 90 seconds later made it 39-33. Sophomore guard Karsen Powers followed with a 3-pointer and made 1 of 2 free throws to open a 43-34 advantage.

"They shot extremely well," Meadow Heights coach Mark Verticchio said. "You have to give them credit."

The Bulldogs iced the victory from the free-throw line after Bohnert's basket gave them a 60-57 lead with a little more than a minute left.

Fowler hit a pair with 53 seconds remaining for a 62-57 advantage.

Meadow Heights senior Erin Bollmann scored with 39 seconds left to make it 62-59, but the Panthers let 31 seconds run off the clock before fouling.

Fowler made two more free throws with 8 seconds remaining for the final margin.

"I was really proud of the way we fought back," Verticchio said. "The two teams are pretty even."

Meadow Heights senior Whitney Welker led all scorers with 26 points. Bollmann added 16.

"Meadow Heights has such a good team. They have two of the better players we'll face," Peters said.

The Panthers scored the game's first six points by using their full-court press to force four turnovers on Notre Dame's first five possessions.

But the Bulldogs settled in after that. The squads were tied 25-25 at halftime before Notre Dame's decisive third-quarter burst.

"Their press really knocked us out of our game the first time we played them this year," Peters said. "We really worked on that. I thought we did a better job."

Notre Dame 11 14 18 21 -- 64

Meadow Hts 12 13 12 22 -- 59

NOTRE DAME (64) -- Miranda Fowler 17, Karsen Powers 8, Summer Burger 4, Shelby Beussink 7, Madison Huckstep 4, Brooke Bohnert 24. FG 23, FT 16-21, F 19. (3-pointers: Fowler 1, Powers 1. Fouled out: none)

MEADOW HEIGHTS (59) -- Caitlin Cook 3, Erin Bollmann 16, Whitney Welker 26, Taylor Cureton 7, Haley Thorne 2, Lauren Bess 5. FG 21, FT 17-24, F 18. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none)