BROSELEY -- The top-seeded Dexter Bearcats' defense dominated in the quarterfinal round of the Twin Rivers Lady Royals Christmas Classic.
The Bearcats held eighth-seeded Kennett scoreless for the first 14:34 and didn't allow a field goal until the third quarter of a 46-11 rout.
"Being young we struggled to score offensively," Kennett coach Kevin McCaig said, "especially against a team that's aggressive and has some front-line height."
The Indians have no seniors on their roster and only four juniors. The other seven players are freshmen and sophomores.
Junior Antonia Randle scored the Indians' first point on a free throw with 1:26 left in the first half. Sophomore Caroline Patton scored their first basket 2:14 into the second half and converted a 3-point play in the process.
The Bearcats (7-4) will meet fifth-seeded Naylor in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday. Naylor upset fourth-seeded Doniphan 45-31 earlier Tuesday night.
Kennett (2-7) will face Doniphan in a fifth-place semifinal at 3 p.m. Friday.
The Bearcats won despite scoring their fourth-lowest point total of the season. Before Tuesday night, they scored 46 or fewer points four times, all losses.
"We just didn't shoot the ball very well today," Dexter coach Chad Allen said. "A lot of that probably (happened) because of our really hard practice we had (Monday). We pushed them pretty hard (Monday) in practice. Just didn't seem like they had the legs to make their shots tonight. ... We'll just have to not go as hard the next two days."
Kennett used a zone defense to try to slow down the Bearcats.
"We came in with a defensive game plan to pack it in a 1-3-1, and hope they weren't hitting shots," McCaig said. "It worked out a little while, but as good as Dexter is, (with) enough open looks, they're going to knock down some shots."
McCaig said the strategy kept them in the game longer than in the two teams' previous meeting, a 72-15 Dexter victory in the first round of the SEMO Conference tournament.
The Bearcats managed only seven points in the first quarter and didn't score until Rylee Allen made a 3-pointer with 5:45 left in the period.
The Bearcats pushed their lead to 20-0 behind six second-quarter points by Chaylea Mosby, and they led 20-2 at halftime.
Dexter used runs of 7-0 and two of 5-0 to extend its lead to 40-8 by the start of the final quarter where the clock ran continuously because of the 30-point mercy rule.
The Indians committed 35 turnovers in the loss, but Dexter turned those into only 10 points, two days after converting Clearwater's 27 first-half turnovers into 35 points in a 90-23 first-round win.
Mosby scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Bearcats. Rylee Allen had seven points, and Maycie Martin and Natalie Sitze had six each.
Patton paced Kennett with eight points.