Sweet revenge.
Nearly a year ago to the day Class 3 No. 1 St. James rallied to beat Class 2 No. 1 Crane, 63-60. It was the last time the Lady Pirates lost against in-state competition.
On Saturday Class 2 No. 1 Crane righted that wrong, beating Class 3 No. 4 St. James 51-35 in a nonconference showdown at Ozark High School.
“I’m very proud of their effort today,” said Crane coach Jeremy Mullins. “We had to out rebound them and we’ve stressed it all week and our girls did a tremendous job on the glass. Our girls just got it done today. Like you said, the revenge tour continues so far.”
Crane wasted little time getting it going behind its usual defensive effort and an unusual scoring source, opening a 24-9 lead early in the second quarter with nine of that coming off the right hand of 5-foot-1 senior Shelby Roder.
Roder had 12 points in the first half, all coming behind the arc, helping Crane grab a 29-17 lead at the break. Roder didn’t find double figures in any of Crane’s first 13 games, but has done so multiple times since the start of the New Year.
“You can stick seven or eight kids out there in practice but it just doesn’t simulate the way those girls anticipate, their strength and their ability to ball-hawk,” said St. James coach Terry Wells. “The start of the game hurt us. We spent the next two quarters trying to dig out of that hole.
You have to pick your poison against Crane. We wanted to stop Vaught and of course we talked about Moore and Mahan too. We knew Roder could shoot, but we were trying to help off of hurt and she just knocked down shots. She’s a great player and it didn’t surprise me, I was just hoping it went the other way.”
The Lady Tigers trailed by 10, 36-26, midway through the third quarter, but Crane responded with an 8-0 run to end the quarter to throw the final knockout punch.
Devin Fuhring and Kenzie Guese scored 18 and 12 to lead St. James. Holding them in check was a key for Crane in pregame talk.
“We knew Fuhring and Geese would get theirs, but we thought if we could hold everyone else in check then we would have a shot,” said Mullins. “Devin is so versatile. She’ll take you inside and she can step out and shoot it. I thought we did a good job of being in help position.”
Seniors Lexie Vaught and Roder each finished with 12 points for Crane. Classmate Kylee Moore added 10 as well.
Crane has now won four straight to start 2016 and the Lady Pirates are now 7-1 since losing reigning Class 2 Player of the Year Emma Lander to a knee injury.
After knocking off 3A runner-up Valley Springs (Ark.), Mullins feels like his team has a better understanding of just how special this season can be even with the loss of Lander.
“When Emma went out they didn’t throw in the towel, they just kept progressing,” said Mullins. “Valley Springs was really a turning point because we didn’t have Emma and Lexie fouled out with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. That was a stepping stone for everyone to see that they can step up and they’ve accepted that challenge.”
