Dexter Girls Hold Off Novi in Regional Semis

Image

It has been a decade since the Dexter girls' basketball team had picked up a regional victory and the Dreadnaughts snapped that streak Tuesday night with a 51-46 win over Novi.

The win advances the Dreads to the Regional final at Saline Thursday night at 7:00 against Salem.

The two teams faced off in the season opener and Dexter came out on top 55-37, but the Rocks were without their leading scorer and are a different team now and 17-1 since Madison Morson returned to the lineup.

Dexter started slowly in the opening quarter against Novi but battled back and trailed 11-10 after one.

The Dreadnaughts started to heat up in the second when Kendall Cabana scored five points, but the Wildcats still led 26-24 at the half.

Alena Blumberg got hot in the third to help the Dreadnaughts go on a 9-0 run to open the second half and take a 33-26 lead. 

Novi battled back, but the Dreads outscored the Wildcats 14-5 in the third behind 11 points from Blumberg to take a 38-31 lead after three.

Both teams had players in foul trouble and would spend a lot of time at the line in the fourth.

Novi opened the fourth with 11-3 run to take a 42-41 lead with four minutes left. 

Chloe Perry sank a pair of free throws to put Dexter up 45-44 with three minutes left.

Addison Chase split a pair of free throws to put Dexter up 48-46 with 29 seconds left. 

Perry would get a steal and was fouled and sank two more free throws for a 50-46 lead and split a pair with just seconds remaining to make the final 51-46.

Dexter was 7-12 from the line in the fourth with Perry making five of seven including five of six in the final two minutes of the game. Blumberg finished with a team-high 21 points to lead Dexter.

Perry finished with 12 points including going 8-12 from the line in the game.

Chase finished with seven points, Cabana five, Alyssa Gullekson, Bailey Krueger, and Heidi Fuchs two each. 

Dexter improved to 17-8 overall on the season and will be shooting for its first regional title since 2013 when the Dreadnaughts reached the state semifinals.

Photos by Mike Williamson