BROSELEY -- The Dexter Bearcats defense left Chaffee a bit shaken Thursday night in the semifinals of the Lady Royals Christmas Classic.
The top-seeded Bearcats received a big first half from Hannah Thurmon and surges of smothering defense to beat Chaffee 74-41 at Twin Rivers High School.
The Bearcats (9-2) will meet Neelyville in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. today for the fifth straight year.
"We wore down," Chaffee coach Andrew Boone said. "Mostly, we wore down mentally. The girls started questioning what to do. That's not a problem I've had so far this year, so I've got to figure out a way (to stop that from happening again). ... We got down by a few points. We shut down mentally for big spurts of the game."
Boone said that the Bearcats bring a different level of defense than his team sees night in and night out.
"Their 2-2-1 press, they bring everybody up and deny the ball. Their half-court 2-3 is not your normal 2-3 you see everyday," Boone said. "They get out there and guard everybody. They don't sit back."
Chaffee looked good early, shooting out to a 10-2 lead behind a pair of 3-pointers by Kylie Wilhite, who tallied a team-high 13 points.
However, Thurmon led the Bearcats back, scoring eight points during an 12-0 run that put the Bearcats ahead 14-10. She made two 3-pointers during that stretch and scored 10 points in the quarter, as the Bearcats led 16-15 by the start of the second.
"Hannah carried us the first half, offensively and defensively," Dexter assistant coach Eric Sitze said. "If you noticed, she was probably the only one out in the passing lanes the first half when we put her in that center position."
Katie Glueck, who scored 10 points for Chaffee, made a pair of free throws at the start of the second quarter to give the Red Devils a 17-16 lead, an advantage that was short-lived.
Thurmon, who finished with 19 points, sparked 6-0 and 7-0 runs that helped the Bearcats build a 36-25 halftime lead. Her putback, Maycie Martin's layup and Chaylea Mosby's fastbreak layup gave Dexter a 22-17 lead.
Thurmon's last of three 3-pointers and a jumper, and Natalie Sitze's fastbreak basket put Dexter ahead 34-23 late in the quarter.
The Red Devils kept their deficit around 10 points early in third quarter, but Dexter scored 12 of the period's final 14 points to take a 52-32 lead into the final quarter.
Martin scored six of her 10 points during that stretch.
Mosby totaled eight of her game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter, as the Bearcats extended their lead to as many as 35 points enacting the running clock for the third-straight tournament game.
"It was just a matter of us getting into the passing lanes in the second half," Coach Sitze said. "I think we did it some in the first half but not as well as we did in the second half. Chaffee did a good job of hitting the cutters through the lane, and we weren't doing a good job of jumping off to the ball early. But I thought as the game went on we got a little more aggressive on defense and did a better job (of) that."
Rylee Allen was the fourth Dexter player to score in double figures. She finished with 10 points with eight coming in the second half.
Dexter head coach Chad Allen missed the game because he was undergoing tests in St. Louis for an upcoming surgery.
The Bearcats have won the last five Classic titles, including a 67-58 win over Neelyville last year, and eight of the last 10.