CEDAR HILL, Mo. -- With their best defensive start of the season, the Poplar Bluff girls basketball team earned a shot at the MSHSAA Class 5 District 1 title.
The Mules gave up a season-low nine first-half points and beat host Northwest 45-27 Monday night in the semifinal.
"That part of it felt real good about," Mules coach John David Pattillo said. "We've just got to shore up some things on the offensive side as far as we were a little stationary and standing around a little bit.
"We've got to move a little bit better, especially against Jackson because they guard really well."
Poplar Bluff (16-10) will face state-ranked Jackson (20-6) in the final at 6 p.m. Thursday in a rematch from last year when the Indians won by 35 points.
It will be the 19th time the two teams have met with a district title on the line.
"We have the confidence since we beat them earlier in the season," said Poplar Bluff senior Shelby Sievers of a 43-39 home win Feb. 1.
"We already know we can beat them so it's just doing it again."
The last two times the Mules won the regular-season meeting -- in 2015 by five points and 2012 by 11 --Jackson ended their season.
The Indians, ranked ninth in the state coaches poll, beat Seckman 51-23 in the other semifinal Monday.
"Our main goal is to win districts, we've got to win districts," said Kiley Bess, who led the Mules with 24 points.
Bess outscored Northwest (8-19) for 3 1/2 quarters while Doni Everts added eight points and nine rebounds. Katie Pattillo chipped in five points and Sievers four.
Poplar Bluff outscored the Lions 11-4 in the opening quarter, leading for all but the first 2 minutes, 14 seconds. The Mules forced 13 first-half turnovers and didn't give up a basket with their half-court defense until the opening minute of the second quarter.
"We knew we could kind of give them some trouble pressing," Coach Pattillo said. "They've got one good player, tried to keep it out of her hands as much as we could."
Megan Fortner, a 5-foot-7 junior averaging 15.3 points, scored four first-quarter points but finished with a team-high seven.
Fortner scored the first points of the game in transition after a steal but Bess answered with a 3 off the dribble. Bess later sank two foul shots, then got a steal pressing but missed a contested shot and Everts scored on a putback for a 7-2 lead.
After a transition basket by Fortner cut Poplar Bluff's lead to three, Bess stole an inbound pass and Everts knocked down a pull-up jumper in the paint. Bess then scored on a fastbreak forcing Northwest's second timeout of the quarter.
The Lions coach called another after Bess was left open on an inbound play for a 3-pointer and a 14-4 lead early in the second quarter.
Katie Pattillo hit a jump shot and Bess added a shot off another inbound pass for an 18-6 lead but the Mules didn't have another field goal over the final 6 minutes of the half.
"In the first half we were a little stagnate," Coach Pattillo said. "Second half we came out and started making a few shots, kind of opened things up."
Poplar Bluff nearly doubled its first-half point total in the third quarter. Bess had eight points, including a pair of three-point plays but Pattillo sank a 3 while Hannah Corcimiglia and Sievers each had putbacks and Everts also got a second-chance bucket.
The Mules took a 38-16 lead into the fourth quarter and improved to 10-0 when holding an opponent under 50 points, something they hadn't done in their last five games, losing four.
Everts said communication is key to success on defense.
"I know (coach) says we lack in that but from the beginning to now, everybody knows how we work," Everts added.
The championship game looks to be a defensive battle.
Jackson has given up 34.7 points per game this season and improved to 18-1 when scoring at least 40. The lone setback was a 59-56 loss at Dexter to end the regular season.
In the previous meeting, the Mules ended the game on a 13-2 run to overcome a nine-point deficit. Kalli Mayfield, a 5-9 junior, scored 15 points for the Indians while 5-11 junior Mik Liley added eight.