The game plan was simple for the Poplar Bluff girls basketball team.

The Mules wanted to impose their will early and often, and that's exactly what they did to pick up a SEMO Conference road win on Thursday.

Poplar Bluff's Megan Knuckles scored a game-high 25 points, Autumn Dodd added 21 points and the Mules withstood Cape Central's late comeback in a 61-49 win at Cape Central High School.

"The good thing is those girls are getting some great experience, and we're building and moving on to the end of the year here. That's one thing that we're talking about," Mules coach John David Pattillo said. "We're concerned about winning our district championship. ... They had a realistic chance last year, and we can have a realistic chance this year if we keep building on what we've done."

Poplar Bluff (4-8, 1-0 SEMO Conference) had a 10-point lead heading into the final quarter, but the lead quickly dwindled to six points, 44-38, when Cassidy Gowan knocked down a pair of free throws with 5 minutes, 54 seconds left in the period.

Dodd drained a pair of 3-pointers and converted a layup in transition during a 10-0 run that extended the Mules' lead to 54-38 with 4:07 to go in the game. Knuckles and Dodd combined to score all of Poplar Bluff's 19 points in the final period.

"We've told Autumn it's time for her to start looking for her 3s, and she's got to look for those things," Pattillo said about Dodd, who finished 3 of 6 (50 percent) from beyond the arc. "... She's got to have the confidence that when she's open, she's got to shoot it. We're still in that mode of learning how to play with a lead and learning how to play at the end of the game."

Cape Central's Salia Hamilton (14) comes away with a rebound in front of Poplar Bluff's Kaitlyn Harris (22) during the first half Thursday, Jan. 7, 2015, at Central High School. (DAILY AMERICAN REPUBLIC/Brian Rosener)

The Mules turned the ball over seven times in the fourth quarter, while Central (3-7, 0-1) bounced back from 14 first-half turnovers with only four in the second half. The Tigers shot a dismal 27 percent (16 of 59) from the floor and were never able to recover from a first quarter that ended with a 16-5 deficit.

"For whatever reason, we came out real flat and dug ourselves a hole there in the first quarter," Central first-year coach Garrett Pannier said. "We started to find some fight there and came back, but it was just a little bit too late. We came back but just couldn't put the ball in the hole there in the second half. Their pressure took us out of our offense fairly quickly in the game, and we never did really get back in the rhythm of our offense. ... I was very proud of the girls for the fight.

"In years past, we wouldn't have come back from this, and we definitely did come back and make it a game. That's two or three games in a row now where we've dug ourselves in a hole and showed some character and fought back, and I'm very proud of them for that."

The Tigers trailed 27-15 at halftime but trimmed their deficit to single digits in the third quarter. Sydney Tollison found Gowan inside for an easy bucket with 3:44 left in the period, pulling Central within six points, 36-30, before the Mules used a 6-2 spurt to extend their lead back to 10 points heading into the final eight minutes of play.

Abbie Reece finished with 14 points to pace the Tigers, who were plagued by an 11-percent (2 of 19) outing from 3-point range.

Central spent most of the night settling for contested shots, and Pannier said the Mules' defensive pressure disrupted his team's flow on offense.

"They ran a full-court, man-to-man press, and for whatever reason, they were taking us out of our offense because they were pushing us out around the perimeter. And we're used to being able to run our offense around the perimeter against a zone or against a soft man. They weren't allowing us to do that," Pannier said. "They were making us make plays off the dribble, and we weren't prepared to do that. As a result, we weren't able to run our offense and weren't able to score."

Poplar Bluff finished with 40 rebounds, compared to 37 for the Tigers. Kaitlyn Harris corralled a team-high 10 boards for the Mules, while Knuckles added seven rebounds.

"At times, we were rebounding pretty well, and then when they made their runs, we got to standing a little bit and didn't rebound. That gave them some extra shots and got us in foul trouble chasing them again," Pattillo said. "When we do rebound, we play pretty well."

Pannier said he was encouraged by the resiliency of his players in the second half

"I told them after the game that I was proud of them," Pannier said. "They've grown all season, and they grew several inches tonight just in the way they came back after halftime and never quit. In years past and even earlier this season, we would have quit after halftime because they just wouldn't allow us to do what we wanted to do."

Poplar Bluff 16 11 15 19 -- 61

Cape Central 5 10 17 17 -- 49

POPLAR BLUFF (61) -- Megan Knuckles 25, Autumn Dodd 21, Kaitlyn Slaughter 9, Kaitlyn Harris 4, Doni Everts 2. FG 22, FT 12-19, F 19. (3-pointers: Dodd 3, Knuckles 1, Slaughter 1. Fouled out: None.)

CAPE CENTRAL (49) -- Abbie Reece 14, Cassidy Gowan 8, Katherine Morton 8, Sydney Tollison 6, Corrie Reece 4, Kassidy Pannier 3, Abby Dumey 3, Quetaja Martin 3. FG 16, FT 15-19, F 17. (3-pointers: Pannier 1, Dumey 1. Fouled out: None.)