DEFIANCE — The Defiance High School gymnasium is nicknamed “The Dawg Pound.”

The St. John’s girls basketball team played defense like a bunch of crazed dogs, shackling Coldwater 44-25 Saturday night in the Division III district finals.

The Lady Blue Jays (22-1) advance to take on Apple Creek Waynedale at 8 p.m. Wednesday night at Lexington’s Regional.

“Defense has been the key all year. We did two things really well tonight,” Jays coach Dan J. Grothouse explained. “One, we did a great job on (Kendra) Robbins. I give a lot of the credit there to Kim (Miller), Sarah (Clark) and Zefiryn (Bryan). We also had a lot of active back-side help. Even when she got the ball, she couldn’t do a lot with it. The second was not giving up dribble penetration by their guards. Our perimeter defenders did a great job of not letting that happen.”

The Jays set the tone right away with their trademark man-to-man defensive scheme. Coldwater (10-13) would not score until the 4:28 mark of the opener and went another three minutes without a point. On the other end, the Jays opened 5-of-8 shooting (17-of-33 overall for 51.5 percent), with Miller and Tori Recker popping off the bench for four points. When Alisha Byrne drilled a 15-footer from the right baseline with 7.6 ticks left, they led 11-4.

“Our bench: Tori, Alisha and Zefiryn, have been huge for us all year. We wouldn’t be in this position without them,” Grothouse acknowledged.

The Jays continued to steadily impose their will in period 2, harrying their foe into 3-of-15 shooting (12-of-45 overall for 26.7 percent) and getting Tasha Stucke (6 markers) in foul trouble. The Blue and Gold slowly added to their edge and when Byrne bombed a shot from the left wing with 1:20 showing, that lead had reached 24-10.

The Jays had beaten the Cavaliers earlier in the season and that caused a bit of concern for Grothouse.

“It’s always hard to beat a team twice in the same year but these girls have set such high goals for themselves. I am amazed at their ability to focus on one game; you can’t go to the next one without it,” he continued.

Clark took charge in period 3, getitng all eight of her markers on drives to the basket as the Jays continued to surge farther ahead. The defense shut out Coldwater over the last 5:20 and the lead reached 38-14 when Byrne — who else? — drained a 15-footer from the left baseline with 6.4 ticks showing.

A Jeanne Bockey (11 markers) trey gave St. John’s its biggest lead — 41-16 — in the finale as both coaches began to empty their benches and the celebration could begin.

“We’re satisfied but we want more. After we lost here in districts last year, we wanted to win this so badly,” Miller said. “We’ve played a lot of ball together and we’ve talked a lot about our goals. That experience has helped us this year. The coaches don’t let us get too excited or too down.”

Coldwater, with Katelyn Kramer scoring eight and Robbins six, hit its only free throw. They snatched 23 boards, 13 offensive, as Stucke had 10. They closed with 14 errors and 10 fouls.

St. John’s hit 8-of-11 at the line (72.7 percent). They owned 26 boards (7 offensive) as Clark had 11 — with three blocks — and Miller five. They totaled nine fouls and 17 miscues.

COLDWATER (25)

Brooke Gross 0-0-0, Paula Howell 1-0-2, Haley Stucke 0-0-0, Tasha Stucke 3-0-6, Betsy Fisher 0-0-0, Ali Wenning 1-0-2, Marla Hess 0-0-0, Danielle Platfoot 0-0-0, Katelynn Kramer 4-0-8, Kara Uhlenhake 0-0-0, Katie Lefeld 0-0-0, Kendra Robbins 3-1-7. Totals 12-1-25.

ST. JOHN’S (44)

Tori Recker 3-0-6, Laura German 0-1-1, Emily Schwieterman 0-0-0, Stephanie Knippen 0-0-0, Jeanne Bockey 4-2-11, Sarah Clark 4-0-8, Brittany Pohlman 1-5-7, Brittany Miller 0-0-0, Kim Miller 2-0-4, Rachel Miller 0-0-0, Zefyrin Bryan 0-0-0, Lindsy Reindel 0-0-0, Alisha Byrne 3-0-7. Totals 17-8-44.

Score by Quarters:

Coldwater 4 6 4 11 - 25

St. John’s 11 13 14 6 - 44

Three-point goals: Coldwater, none; St. John’s, Bockey, Byrne.