SULLIVAN — A district title.

That was the goal Friday night for Ryan Flanagan’s Owensville Dutchgirls as they took on St. James’ Lady Tigers in the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 4, District 3 Girls Basketball Tournament championship game at Sullivan High School.

In their meeting prior to Friday at St. James, Owensville claimed their first outright Four Rivers Conference (FRC) title since 2016 and looked to add a district title.

Finding themselves in a 40-21 hole at the end of the third quarter, Owensville began to catch fire from the field midway through the fourth quarter when they cut the deficit to single digits at 47-38 on an Ella Gehlert basket with 3:54 remaining.

Scoring OHS’ next 10 points over a two-minute span, Kyla Hendrix helped the orange and black pull to within four points at 54-50 with :33 left.

Unfortunately for the Dutchgirls and their fans, that was as close as they would get before seeing their season end at 20-7 following a 58-54 loss to the Lady Tigers in the district title game.

“I’m so proud of my kids,” Flanagan said. “Shots weren’t falling for us in the first half but they never gave up. They kept battling until the final buzzer.”

Trading baskets during the first half of the opening quarter, Owensville took their first lead on an Anna Finley bucket at the 6:00 mark of the first quarter for a 4-2 Dutchgirl advantage.

From there, St. James closed the quarter on a 10-2 run leaving OHS trailing 12-6 after eight minutes of basketball.

Only able to hit one of their 10 field-goal attempts in the second quarter, four free throws from Finley helped the Dutchgirls stay within single digits of St. James at halftime by a score of 20-13.

Finley paced the Dutchgirls with six first-half points while St. James was led with six points by Livi Herron.

Still cold from the field going 3-14 in the third quarter, Owensville saw St. James outscore them 20-8 in the third quarter to take a 40-21 lead entering the fourth period.

Defense sparked the Dutchgirls at the start of the fourth quarter.

Freshman Ali Daniels stole the ball and scored while getting fouled with 7:47 remaining.

Hitting the free throw to compete the 3-point play, Ali helped light a fire for the Dutchgirls.

Seconds later, Keira Hendrix followed with a steal and lay up helping Owensville open the fourth quarter on a 5-0 run.

Trading points over the next two minutes, St. James pushed their lead back out to 16 at 47-31 with 5:16 remaining.

After that, it started raining 3-pointers on OHS’ side of the floor.

Emma Daniels drained one with 4:50 left to spark a 10-2 cutting the Lady Tiger lead into single digits at 49-41 on an Ali Daniels 3-pointer at the 3:16 mark of the fourth quarter.

Hitting a 3-ball at the 6:50 mark of the quarter, Kyla Hendrix hit three more in a row over a two-minute span chopping St. James’ lead down to four points at 54-50 with :33 left in regulation.

“Our girls never quit,” Flanagan said. “I just wish a few more shots would have fallen and we would have been the ones celebrating.”

Now forced to foul, Owensville saw St. James hit five of their eight free-throw attempts to deny the Dutchgirls a comeback for the ages.

“You have to tip your hat to St. James,” Flanagan said. “They hit more shots than we did and competed hard.”

Limited to a pair of first-half free throws, Kyla Hendrix torched the nets for 18 second-half points helping score a game-high 20 points for the Dutchgirls in her final basketball game in an Owensville High School uniform.

Finley nearly joined Kyla in double figures finishing with nine points, 10 rebounds, four steals, two assists and a blocked shot.

Cousins Ali and Emma Daniels each finished with eight points for Flanagan’s Dutchgirls.

Gehlert scored all four of her points in the second half while Camryn Caldwell finished an injury-riddled freshman season with three points.

Keira Hendrix added two points in the fourth quarter of her final game in a Dutchgirl basketball uniform. She also pulled down seven rebounds.

Herron led three St. James Lady Tigers in double figures with 19 points and three steals.

Alyson Bullock nearly added a double double finishing with 12 points, nine rebounds and six blocked shots.

Emily Recker rounded out St. James’ double-digit scoring trio with 11 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and a blocked shot.

St. James defeated Lutheran South last night (Tuesday) 60-53 to advance to Saturday’s Class 4 quarterfinals.