The Cardinals scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter and defeated Joplin 45-34 Monday night in the first round of the girls Class 5, District 12 tournament.

Webb City (14-12), seeded third, advanced to the semifinals against No. 2-seed Willard at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. 

Senior guard Gabbie Gannaway led Webb City with 13 points, including a 3-pointer off an in-bounds play that gave the Cardinals a 33-23 lead with 5 minutes, 20 seconds remaining.

"Joplin has been playing really well of late," said Webb City head coach Brad Shorter. "They limited Mikaela Burgess and Gannaway, our two scorers."

Burgess, a sophomore point guard, scored all eight of her points in the second half. Joplin scored the last five points of the first half and went into halftime trailing 17-15.

Joplin had cut Webb City's lead to 25-23 by scoring the last five points of the third quarter. Webb City responded with two fast-break baskets, including a three-point play by Burgess, that gave the Cardinals a 30-23 lead early in the fourth quarter.

"That was huge for us," Shorter said. "We were struggling on offense most of the game. We needed something like that to get us going. That took some pressure off the kids."

Joplin trimmed Webb City's lead to 38-31 on Martin's second 3-pointer with 1:11 remaining, but Cardinals preserved their lead by making 10 of 14 free throws in the last two minutes.