By Denise Tucker
Halfway, MO – It may be a cliché, but the final score of the Halfway-Dadeville boys’ game (59-49) was not indicative of how close the Polk County League contest actually was Friday night.
Heading into the final quarter, the teams were knotted at 36, and the biggest lead by either team prior to that was only four points.
“Free throws were big,” said Chandler Saultz, who pulls double-duty as the Halfway boys’ and girls’ coach. “We’ve had a long break here without being able to play much. We missed enough free throws in the first half to put us ahead there, so we talked about staying in rhythm, staying focused and hitting our shots.”
Dadeville struck first in the fourth quarter on a basket by Wyatt Sneed to go up 38-36. The Cardinals countered with back-to-back 3-pointers by Dallas Dodd for a 42-38 advantage. A 3 from Teddy McMasters pulled the Bearcats to 42-41 with about five minutes remaining.
“We got the loose balls; we got the calls we needed to get and we just out-worked them at times in the game,” Saultz said. “They hit some tough shots. McMasters hit a couple of tough ones to put them down one. But we hit those free throws, and that was big.”
The teams continued to battle back and forth, and with 1:42 to go, Dadeville’s Will Toler hit a runner to tie the game at 49.
But a runner by Caleb Gallivan gave Halfway a 51-49 lead and the Cardinals went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line to close out the game.
“We had a few breakdowns, defensively, that really cost us,” Dadeville coach Curtis Collins said. “I know it was a 10-point win, and they hit eight free throws there at the end, but it was really one possession that did us in. It hurt us and we had to start fouling.
“It was a tough one to lose by 10, but we were right there; it just didn’t fall our way.”
HALFWAY 59, DADEVILLE 49
Polk County League game
DADEVILLE (2-7) – 6-15-15-13—49
HALFWAY (5-5) – 10-10-16-23—59
DADEVILLE – Will Toler 15, Teddy McMasters 15, Skylor Horton 8, Clint McGill 5, Jarrett Sappington 4, Wyatt Sneed 2.
HALFWAY – Ryan Gallivan 17, Justin Rovenstine 10, Dallas Dodd 10, Caleb Gallivan 9, Ben Barham 8, Nate Porter 5.
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Third-quarter spurt lifts Halfway girls
The Halfway Lady Cardinals used a 7-0 run, sparked by Nichole Hosiner, to close out the third quarter and hold off the Dadeville Lady Bearcats in Polk County League action Friday night.
The run started with about 1:40 remaining in the third quarter and the scored tied at 29. Rachel Cahoj found Hosiner down low for an easy bucket, and Hosiner followed with a putback to give Halfway a 33-29 lead.
A Dadeville turnover and foul put Rylee Stokes on the free-throw line. She hit the first of a one-and-one opportunity for a 34-29 advantage, and then closed out the quarter on a right-handed layup on an inbounds pass from Michaela Higginbothem to put Halfway up 36-29.
But the catalyst for the quarter was Hosiner.
The junior forward scored four points during the 7-0 run, and had 11 for the quarter, on her way to a team-high 14 points.
“We thought we had a mismatch, and in big moments like that we have plays, but we really go to the players,” Halfway coach Chandler Saultz said. “She executed and hit her shots late in the quarter, too.
“The energy she brought – we had a discussion at halftime because she missed some easy layups that probably could have put us out of reach there in the first half – we said, ‘Concentrate. You’ve got the match and take advantage of it.’ And I really feel like she did in the third quarter.”
Dadeville closed the gap to 39-36 on a 3-pointer by sophomore Abby Sappington with about three minutes to go in the game, but a layup by Stokes put the Lady Cardinals back up by five and the Lady Bearcats were unable to get any closer.
“That (run) really hurt us. We didn’t adjust well,” Dadeville coach Daniel Durst said.
Not only did the third-quarter outburst by Halfway hurt Dadeville, but so did sickness, which forced the Lady Bearcats out of their normal style of play.
“We generally full-court press, but we’ve been battling some serious sickness on our team,” Durst said. “I could tell the girls were sluggish, so we ended up pulling it back pretty quick and I could just tell we weren’t there for it today.”
Sophomore Lexi Lakey, who has been one of Durst’s players fighting illness, led all scorers with 17 points.
HALFWAY 45, DADEVILLE 40
Polk County League game
DADEVILLE (5-6) – 7-12-10-11—40
HALFWAY (6-4) – 10-7-19-9—45
DADEVILLE – Lexi Lakey 17, Abby Sappington 7, Ashton Neely 6, Macey Sappington 4, Lexi Goodman 4, Cecilia Miller 2.
HALFWAY – Nichole Hosiner 14, Rylee Stokes 13, Sam Mayfield 7, Kamryn Voris 6, Michaela Higginbothem 5.
