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By Denise Tucker
Fair Grove, MO – When Rogersville pulled within one point of her Lady Jackets in the championship game of the Fair Grove Tournament, Lebanon senior Kelsey Winfrey took it upon herself to get her team back on track.
“My thought process was to calm my teammates down, get their heads back in the game and tell myself and them to forget the past, because we can’t go back and change it; just calm down and play our game,” Winfrey said.
The University of Missouri commit hit 3 of 4 free throws down the stretch to lift the Lady Jackets, who improved to 3-1 overall, to a 50-43 tournament-title victory Friday night.
Rogersville (4-1) trailed 36-25 heading into the fourth quarter, but a jumper by junior Hailey Brown and 3-pointers from Jenna Gault, Jordyn Gault and Brown cut Lebanon’s lead to 40-39 with 3:05 left in the game.
“We made some shots in that little run,” Rogersville coach Denny McHenry said, “We got them to turn the ball over a couple of times, but we needed to make more shots early in the game.”
Which Lebanon did by taking advantage of an 8-0 run in the second quarter. The Lady Jackets outscored Rogersville 17-6 to take a 25-16 lead going into halftime.
“We took a lot of smart shots,” said Winfrey, who scored six of her game-high 23 points in the second quarter. “We picked it up on defense and made sure we took smart shots.”
But the Lady Wildcats stayed within striking distance, even without leading scorer, senior Sarah Jordan, who was out with an injury.
Rogersville also trailed Fair Grove by 10 in the opening round before rallying to win, and fell behind Lebanon on Friday night before mounting a late comeback that came up short.
“They’re good. They have such a good player, and the other girls around her are good,” McHenry said. “We’ve got to overcome some of our mistakes that either won’t let us take that lead, or put us in that 11-down (position) to start off with. I’m proud of them, but we’ve got to get better in some spots.”
And when the game got tight, Lebanon coach Brendan Kelley knew he could count on his all-state senior.
“There’s not many people who, in their entire coaching career, get to coach someone like Kelsey Winfrey,” Kelley said. “And when the game’s tight, you want a player like that with the basketball in her hands because you know she’s going to make good decisions, and the pressure doesn’t bother her.
“Even as a freshman, in big pressure situations, she had no problem handling whatever defenses threw at her. She’s one of the best leaders that I’ve ever coached. Everyone kind of rallies around her, and we know when Kelsey’s got the ball it’s in good hands.”
LEBANON 50, ROGERSVILLE 43
Fair Grove Tournament Championship
LEBANON (3-1) – 8-17-11-14—50
ROGERSVILLE (4-1) – 10-6-9-18—43
LEBANON (3-1) – Kelsey Winfrey 23, Jaiden Offutt 4, Carsyn Bowman 1, Maddie O’Connor 1, Faith Alwardt 2, Jenna Glendenning 2, Kamryn Mack 9, Cori Johnson 8.
ROGERSVILLE (4-1) – Jordyn Gault 6, Jenna Gault 3, Taylor Overstreet 2, Hailey Brown 8, Sarah Posey 6, Maci McHenry 14, Jenn Branstetter 4.
Third place – West Plains 48, Clever 47
Fifth place – Fair Grove 62, Buffalo 31
