By Stephen Buus
El Dorado Springs girls 53, Stockton 46 – OT
El Dorado Springs, MO — In the Cedar County Showdown on Thursday, the El Dorado Springs Lady Bulldogs took advantage of the absence of Stockton senior Annie Besch in the third quarter to tie the game at 35, went ahead by 7 points in the fourth only to see the Lady Tigers tie it back up and send the game to overtime, then dominated the extra four minutes to pull out a 53-46 non-conference victory.
Stockton was in control most of the first half, but Besch picked up her third foul midway in the second quarter and figured to sit out the rest of the half. However, her coach and father Kevin Besch put Annie back in with a little over a minute left in the half whereupon she drew her fourth foul.
“Early on, that’s a lot of fouls in the first half,” said Coach Besch. “Hindsight’s 20/20, we probably should have left her out for awhile, but she’s got to learn to play with a lot of fouls too.”
Bulldog senior Anyssa Salazar came alive in the second half with 10 of her 16 points powering the Bulldogs to the lead. A couple of critical El Do turnovers gave Stockton renewed hope down the stretch. A basket by sophomore Sarrah Hottes and a free throw by senior Kayla Hobbs drew the Tigers even at 46-46 with 18 seconds left. Stockton sophomore Amie Garver got a steal on El Do’s final possession and passed the ball to Annie Besch, who just missed on game-winning three.
Bulldog coach Beau Swopes said, “Stockton did a great job without [Besch]. I was hoping we could go on a big-enough run where it wasn’t going to matter whether or not she came back in or if she had to come back in the third quarter.”
In overtime, junior Paige Esry took over the offense with Salazar fouling out near the end of regulation. Esry canned three shots from the field as the Bulldogs improved to 4-5 on the year and the Tigers fell to 2-5.
Esry led El Do with 18 points with Salazar adding 16. Hottes led Stockton with 16 points and Annie Besch had 12.
Swopes said, “The girls did their job and they came out and fought back in overtime without our leading scorer (Salazar). That’s a tough one to swallow. We had kids step up and do what they needed to do, really handled the pressure better than expected.”
“It’s early in the season,” said Kevin Besch, “and you take your lumps and try to learn from it.”
El Do is off until January 5 when the Bulldogs host Lockwood. Stockton challenges Verona this Saturday morning in the first round of the Walnut Grove Holiday Classic.
Stockton 11 15 9 11 0—46
El Dorado Springs 9 12 14 11 7—53
Stockton: Sarrah Hottes 16, Annie Besch 12, Amie Garver 9, Kayla Hobbs 5, Kaytlyn Millard 3, Katie Hedrick 1.
El Dorado Springs: Paige Esry 18, Anyssa Salazar 16, Brittany Stevens 7, Kelli Tough 2, Taylor Robison 2, Maggie Medley 1.
Stockton boys 57, El Dorado Springs 56
The boys’ half of the Cedar County doubleheader appeared early like it would a runaway for Stockton, but a furious rally in the second half gave El Dorado Springs a chance late, only to see the visiting Tigers steal a 57-56 victory on a backdoor layup by senior Skyler Fishburn in the final six seconds.
Stockton (5-2) dominated the first half, canning 6 of 10 from 3-point range en route to a 42-31 halftime advantage and a lead as high as 16 points. But the Bulldogs (2-6) turned up the defensive intensity in the third period, holding Stockton to just two field goals. With 4:29 left in regulation, El Do drew even at 50-50 and it looked like the boys’ game might go to overtime as the girls’ game between the same two schools did earlier in the evening.
Bulldog coach Joel Braden said, “We came out, and I don’t know if we weren’t focused or we weren’t ready, but our defense in the first quarter was bad. We gave up 24 points in the first quarter, and you’re not winning if you’re giving up 80 points a game. But the good with that is they did get things together in the second half. We came out and got those things fixed. The thing with this group is they’re learning how to win and how to close games.”
El Do took its final lead with about 13 seconds on a tough layup from the right side by senior Riley Boyd, who had a game-high 27 points.
The Tigers dribbled to midcourt and called timeout with 6 seconds left. Junior Jake Wheeler drew a double-team to him and found Fishburn on the left block, who laid it in as time expired.
Stockton coach Derald Henderson said, “We knew it was going to be a good environment. It’s a big game and the kids get excited about it. I thought we got some good looks in the third quarter; we just didn’t make them. Down in the paint we missed some layups. We had some 3-pointers that were good, clean looks but they didn’t go.
“[On the last play, the Bulldogs] shaded to the strong side corner. We didn’t really adjust, we clarified and we said we wanted to get Jake the ball on the floor and let him make a play and he did. And Fishburn did a heck of a job.”
Fishburn led the Tigers with 17 points, while sophomores Clayton Hubbard and Gannon Kenney both added 14.
Both teams are back in action on Friday. El Do hosts future Ozark Highlands Conference rival Buffalo while Stockton travels up I-49 to visit Butler.
Stockton 24 18 5 10—57
El Dorado Springs 13 18 13 12—56
Stockton: Skyler Fishburn 17, Clayton Hubbard 14, Gannon Kenney 14, Drew Wheeler 9, Justin Pfeifer 3.
El Dorado Springs: Riley Boyd 27, Shane Trowbridge 14, Shelby McKinney 6, Trey Babcock 4, Branden Hayes 3, Kaiden Simmons 2.
