Raylie Hejna and Bayley Harman couldn’t hold back tears leaving the court on Thursday…
There wasn’t a dry eye in a Walnut Grove uniform and for the first time in four years they weren’t tears of joy, but tears of pain.
The Lady Tigers lost to Naylor 37-32 in Thursday’s Class 1 semifinal at the Hearnes Center, snapping Walnut Grove’s run of three straight state championships.
It is Walnut Grove's first loss to a Class 1 team since March 17, 2012. The Lady Tigers had won 62 straight games.
“It’s a part of the process of what it takes to get here and what it takes to be successful and the good thing is we get to feel this pain now and get to use it as a motivating factor,” said Walnut Grove coach Rory Henry. “Both of their sisters felt this feeling five years ago, losing by one in the state championship. They had to wait five or six months to go back out and play and for us we get to do it tomorrow. We’re going to get back on the floor and give it everything we’ve got.
I would love to say that we’re just happy to be here but we’re not; our goal was to play for the state championship and we wanted to win it again bad. We’re pretty disappointed right now; it’s rough in that locker room. I’m proud of this group; it’s amazing that we’re even in this position and to play through what we played through is incredible. A lot of people didn’t expect us to be back here.”
Walnut Grove beat Naylor in last year’s Class 1 state championship game, but on Thursday the Lady Tigers struggled to defend Naylor’s 6-foot-1, 6-foot-1 and 5-foot-10 front line, specifically sophomore Callee Pickrell.
After being held in check last year, Pickrell finished with a game-high 17 points, including five points in a pivotal stretch that saw Naylor extend its lead to 10, 26-16, midway through the third.
“When you have three 6-footers it’s tough to matchup,” said Henry. “She’s a tough player and when Raylie got in foul trouble she went right at her which was the smart thing to do. It’ll be exciting to see her get better every year.”
After a scoreless first half, Harman helped spark a 12-2 run with six points, tying the game up at 28. Naylor finished the game with a 9-4 run, keyed by the defensive effort of 5-foot-2 junior Chelsey Rigdon, who faceguarded Harman for the game’s final 5:32.
Harman finished with 14 points, but shot just 5-for-13 from the field. Hejna added 10 points and eight rebounds before fouling out with 5:01 remaining.
“We remember last year’s loss very well,” said Naylor coach Gene Deckard. “It was sweet to come back here and beat them. The media was playing up the rematch. They had a great run, they’re a great team and we’re just pleased to be able to get the win. We knew it was going to start going to Harman so we went to a triangle and two and face guarded her and did a really good job for a few minutes. She got the lob over the top, but we had a great defensive effort to finish.”
For the first time in program history, Walnut Grove will play for third.
Henry knows that just two teams in the state get a chance to end their season with a win. Walnut Grove will return its entire roster next year, making Friday’s game a potential springboard for what could be a sixth straight Final Four trip in 2017.
“We talked in the locker room about showing character and resiliency, battling through losses and being ready to play tomorrow,” said Henry. “It’s a position we really haven’t been in before, but we’re going to come out tomorrow and give it our best shot.”
Naylor 37, Walnut Grove 32
Naylor 9-11-8-9 – 37
Walnut Grove 6-6-12-8 – 32
Naylor (23-7) – Pickrell 17, Cunningham 8, Rogers 6, Rigdon 3, Day 3.
Walnut Grove (22-10) – Harman 14, Hejna 10, McPhail 6, Miller 2.
