By Matt Turer — mturer@ky3.com
@MattTurer
Walnut Grove, Mo. — Turns out, beating the No. 1 team in Class 1 wasn’t enough for Pierce City. How greedy. Three days after taking down tournament host Walnut Grove, the green Eagles ran through, over and around 2-seed Hartville in a decisive 20-point Walnut Grove Tournament championship-clinching win Friday night.
Pierce City (8-2) didn’t allow Hartville (9-4) to score more than seven points in any of the first three quarters, building a 35-19 lead heading into the final eight minutes in its 51-31 win.
CLICK HERE FOR PIERCE CITY VS HARTVILLE PHOTOS
The tournament’s No. 5 seed, Pierce City upset No. 4 Ash Grove, No. 1 Walnut Grove and No. 2 Hartville on its way to the title.
“I didn’t expect quite this much [success] this early,” Pierce City head coach Rob Guerin said. “I thought maybe by the end of the season we’d be playing this good, but the girls just have excelled. They’ve definitely improved a lot faster than what I’ve expected them to. It’s fun.”
Pierce City’s Belle Golubski was named tournament MVP, finishing the night with 14 points. Kendyl Howard led all scorers with 15, with nine coming in the second half.
Golubski, who was serenaded with ‘Happy Birthday’ by the Pierce City contingent following the game, said momentum from the win over Walnut Grove carried over into Friday night.
“We felt like if we could beat the No. 1 team in the state we could come out and win the whole thing,” she said. “This can definitely push us to districts or past districts. If we keep having this confidence, we can do a lot.”
Pierce City got to the free-throw line 32 times—including 16 times in the fourth quarter—finishing 19-32 from the stripe.
“[Pierce City] was on a high (from their win over Walnut Grove) and came out and played hard,” Hartville head coach Mike Percival said. “Didn’t have anything to lose. They’d already knocked off the No. 1 seed so they’re thinking that they’ve got a shot, and that’s what you’re supposed to feel.”
Hartville was held to just one field goal in both the second and third quarter. But it wasn’t for a lack of opportunities. The Lady Eagles uncharacteristically missed numerous layups and second-chance opportunities throughout the night.
“I don’t if it was legs or a little bit of mental fatigue,” Percival said of his team’s poor shooting. “One thing about it when you play in a holiday tournament, this one is stretched out so far, there’s not a lot of time to get away and separate yourself. You’re always thinking about things, and it wears on a person and that may have been a little bit of it.”
Hartville had won five in a row after back-to-back losses to state-ranked teams in Norwood and Rogersville. The Eagles, who began the season highly ranked in Class 2, have five days to regroup before Day 1 of the MV-BT/Liberty Tournament.
“We’re going to try to learn from [this loss],” Percival said. “This is another time we had an opportunity here and we didn’t take advantage of it, and we’re trying to figure out exactly what it is and what we can improve on. Because when it all boils down to it, we’re looking at district time.”
For Pierce City, the success in Walnut Grove means the Eagles are no longer a team that’s going to be overlooked. After winning a respectable 15 games a season ago, the Eagles seemed poised to blow by that win total with their only two losses coming to Class 3 East Newton and Class 4 Cassville.
“This team is still improving,” Guerin said. “We’ve been working hard all season long. We take it one game at a time. We had some losses early but we make sure we learn from every game and we come to practice ready to improve. The girls just continue to work harder and harder and just keep getting better.”
Decked out in their finest Christmas socks, the tournament champions treated media and parents to a very special rendition of ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’ after the win. Here’s that special bonus coverage:
FINAL: Pierce City 51, Hartville 31
Pierce City 10 14 11 16 – 51
Hartville 7 7 5 12 – 31
Pierce City- Kendyl Hayward 15, Belle Golubski 14, Kayla Portillo 9, Ragan Blinzer 7, Christine Stellwagen 4, Libbey Strickler 2
Hartville- Sadie Chisum 10, Emily Chisum 8, Cheyanne Mullenix 5, Grace Still 3, Mallory Hardcastle 2, Grace Culver 1, Ashlynne Dickinson 1, Skylar Divine 1
