DUPO — Whether she wants to call it a belated birthday present or not, Nashville sophomore guard Jordi Harre gave her dad something special.
Jordi Harre connected on six 3-pointers as the Hornettes beat the Red Bud Musketeers 44-17 on Thursday in the championship game of the Class 2A Dupo Girls Basketball Sectional.
Jordi Harre's father is Nashville coach Wayne Harre.
"She was solid for us tonight,'' Wayne Harre said of his daughter. "We found her, and she did a good job of knocking them in the hole. My birthday was yesterday, and it makes you pretty proud as a father.''
"I think beating Central was a good present, and he got another present tonight,'' Jordi Harre said.
Jordi Harre was scoreless in the Hornettes' 45-33 win over Central on Tuesday, but she took full advantage of the open looks she got with the Musketeers going to a 2-3 zone in an attempt to contain Nashville's inside game.
"We knew going to a 2-3 zone that Jordi has the potential to take you out of the zone,'' Red Bud coach Janel Pfeiffer said. "However, if we went to man-to-man, we were so mismatched at every position that it was going to be a real struggle. I told Jordi after the game ... we weren't going to let them pound the ball inside and she made us pay for that.
"That's a credit to the type of player she is. Only big things are in front of her as a sophomore.''
The Hornettes (30-2) advance to play the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes (25-7) at 8 p.m. Monday in the Class 2A Salem Super-Sectional.
The Wooden Shoes knocked off previously unbeaten and No. 3-ranked Mount Carmel 57-34 Thursday in the championship game of Newton Sectional.
"In my opinion, there is no one that is going to stop them,'' Pfeiffer said of the Hornettes.
The Hornettes also got eight points from Shaye Harre despite the Musketeers' efforts to keep her bottled up and six points from Erica Brown and Shawn Rennergarbe.
Jordi Harre was 6-for-7 on 3-pointers. She had two 3s in leading the Hornettes out to a 10-0 lead and another two 3-pointers during a 11-0 run at the start of the third quarter.
"I knew if we couldn't get it into her (Shaye Harre), I had to start shooting from outside,'' Jordi Harrre said. "My shots just happened to fall tonight, so that was good.''
The Musketeers were led by junior guard Ali Ringering with 12 points. Ringering had to work hard for her points going against the 6-foot-1 Brown.
The Musketeers ended their season at 18-11.
Pfeiffer said the Musketeers can build off their success this season.
"This was a great experience for us, and I'm proud of our accomplishments,'' Pfeiffer said. "But, at the same time, I truly thought we could have given them a better game. Unfortunately, when they came out with the 8-0 run, I knew we were probably going to be in for a long night.''
Jordi Harre connected on a 3, Brown hit a 12-foot jumper and Jordi Harre hit another 3-pointer as the Hornettes jumped out to an 8-0 lead.
The Hornettes went up 10-0 on a basket by Shaye Harre.
Ringering got the Musketeers on the scoreboard with a layup with 1:30 left in the first quarter.
Grace Richards sank two free throws late in the first quarter and Jessica Otten hit a 3 early in the second quarter as the Musketeers cut their deficit to 12-7.
The Hornettes responded with a 20-0 run, scoring nine unanswered points to close out the first half and then scoring 11 unanswered points to start the second half.
Hannah Yung had a 3 sandwiched between Jordi Harre's two 3-pointers to open the third quarter.
Contact reporter Steve Korte at skorte@bnd.com or 239-2522.
