The area had three teams in third place games of the small class state basketball tournament on Friday, and all three brought home wins.
Class 3 Boys Third Place: Mountain Grove 69, Whitfield 62
Fouls were the story of Mountain Grove’s 69-62 win over Whitfield. The team’s combined to commit 54 total fouls with five total players eventually fouling out.
The Panthers got out of the gates fast by shooting 52.2% from the field in the first half on their way to a 39-31 lead.
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They were hampered in a big way by foul trouble in the second half. Leading scorer DJ McNew and point guard Carter Otwell each picked up their fourth fouls in the third and had to sit for a large portion of the frame, which allowed Whitfield to outscore the Panthers 19-12 in the frame to make it 51-50 Mountain Grove after three quarters.
Things looked bleak when McNew fouled out with six minutes remaining, and the Panthers trailed 60-58 with 3:28 left in the game.
Mountain Grove responded with an 11-2 run to close the game and win the Class 3 third place game 69-62.
Thomas Clifton led the Panthers with 17 points. Cade Coffman was just behind with 15 points. McNew scored 13 in his final game as a Panther. Carter Otwell (12) and Brock Coffman (11) rounded out the double-digit scoring for Mountain Grove which finished the season at 28-5.
Class 2 Girls Third Place: Skyline 36, New Franklin 13
It wasn’t pretty, but the Skyline girls finished third in Class 2 for the second time in four years by taking down New Franklin.
Skyline shot just 27.7 percent from the field on 15-for-54 shooting that included going 2-for-18 from three.
Fortunately for the Lady Tigers, their defense was outstanding holding New Franklin to two field goals in the first half and an even stingier one in the second half, as New Franklin shot 14.2% from the field in the game.
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Skyline forced 22 turnovers in the game.
Lauren Wouters led the way for the Lady Tigers with 10 points and seven rebounds. Kaylee DaMitz was just behind her with nine points. McKinsey Mountain and Autumn Garrett each had six points. Cheyenne Story and Savannah Owen scored two points each to round out the scoring.
Skyline finished the season 28-5 and has now walked away with a Final Four trophy in four consecutive seasons that included second place finishes each of the last two years.
Class 1 Girls Third Place: Walnut Grove 52, Glasgow 51
Walnut Grove only led for 93 seconds, but 73 of those were the final seconds as the Lady Tigers bounced back from a semifinal loss to win the Class 1 Third Place game.
The Lady Tigers trailed by eight points with 3:03 left, but would close on a 9-1 to take the game.
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Just four players scored for Walnut Grove. Bayley Harman and Raylie Hejna matched with a game-high 19 points each. Grace McPhail chipped in 11 in the win while Myranda McVay rounded out the scoring with three points.
After winning three straight Class 1 titles, this was the first ever third place game in program history.
