FREDERICKTOWN, Mo. -- Doniphan's strong shooting early kept pace with Saxony Lutheran for the first five minutes as the Donettes were tied at 10.
It was all Crusaders after that as they went on to win 79-49 and advance to the MSHSAA Class 3 District 2 championship.
Saxony Lutheran (23-4) went on an 11-3 run after the first and only tie score of the game, took a permanently double-digit lead early in the second quarter, and pushed it to 20 points before the half.
"We felt like we have to play an up-tempo game because we have a pretty deep bench and I want to get them moving," Saxony Lutheran coach Sam Sides said. "The more tempo it is, the more it is going to suit us in the long run."
Makayla Mueller and Addison Beussink each had 18 to lead the Crusaders. Cass Wunderlich made a pair of 3s among her 17 points.
"Before they were just busting right by us. We were standing flat footed and they went right by us," Sides said. "I thought we did a much better job of moving and keeping them in front of us."
The Crusaders controlled the paint on offense, consistently getting the ball to Beussink and Mueller under the basket for easy buckets. Defensively, the full-court press also led to several steals for easy layups in the first half.
Doniphan (15-12) has been a team that has relied on outside shooting all season, but against the Crusaders, the Donettes made two 3-pointers in the first half and four in the game.
Paige Eddington led the Donettes with 21 points. Jakelyn Friend made three 3-pointers and finished with 10 points.
"I'm pretty happy with our team effort that we put in this year," Doniphan coach Larry Mueller said. "I wasn't worried about how many games we won.
"(The seniors) had some experience and they brought that in. I felt like they played pretty good this year. They've had a couple of rough years."
Saxony Lutheran held Doniphan to one field goal, a 3 by Friend, over the final two minutes of the first quarter and the first two minutes of the second quarter. During that stretch they increased their lead from four points to 15.
"That was about the only time we did a real good job was in the second quarter," Sides said. "They shot the ball a lot better than I anticipated. They had some other girls who could put the ball in the basket. We tried to play a matchup zone and we missed our assignments a few times. Every time we did they made us pay for it."
Eddington bookended the stretch with three-point plays for Doniphan, and in the final 10 minutes of the first half she had 11 of Doniphan's 15 points.
"We just had way too many turnovers. Saxony Lutheran is a good team and their whole game is about pressing and getting easy buckets under the basket. If we could have stopped the turnovers and played them in a half court game it might have been an interesting game. But that didn't happen," Mueller said. "They all play hard, but Paige has that extra gear that many of them don't ... That's a normal game for her"
The loss was the final game for Doniphan seniors Friend, Eddington, Vanessa Baca, and Savanah Aaron.
The Crusaders have won five straight district championship since joining District 2 for the 2012-13 season. In 2011-12, they were beat by West County in the District 3 championship.
Each of Saxony Lutheran's past four district titles have been against Arcadia Valley in the championship game, and by at least 13 points each time.