By Dana Harding
Fair Grove, Mo. — Chalk held true in Wednesday’s Class 3 District 11 semifinals. No. 1 Strafford rolled over No. 4 Springfield Catholic 68-29 in the early game, and No. 2 Clever held off a late flurry from No. 3 Fair Grove in the nightcap for a 63-59 victory.
Strafford (27-0) vs Springfield Catholic (17-10)
Matched up against undefeated Strafford, the Ozarks’ version of Godzilla, Springfield Catholic entered Wednesday’s district semifinal with nothing to lose.
While the Lady Irish ended up on the wrong end of a 68-29 result, Catholic came out in the first quarter looking like a team with upset aspirations.
CLICK HERE FOR CATHOLIC VS. STRAFFORD PHOTOS
Strafford’s Abby Oliver opened the scoring with a 3-pointer to give the Lady Indians and early lead; however, Catholic’s Lilly Edwards answered at the other end with a basket of her own.
Unfortunately for the Lady Irish, the wheels came off shortly thereafter.
Down 6-3 Catholic’s Madison Chittenden picked up her first and second fouls within ten seconds of one another.
Worse yet, Chittenden tweaked an ankle on the second foul trying to check Strafford standout Haley Frank.
Trailing 8-3 midway through the first quarter, the Lady Irish watched their leading scorer and playmaker head to the bench with an injury.
Catholic head coach Dan Stander pointed to the resulting mental breakdown as a big turning point in the game.
“When your leading scorer and team captain goes down, everybody’s just kind of looking around,” Stander said. “In a big game like this, you can’t have that mental letdown, and our kids felt that. They felt like she was done, and we just got scared.”
Strafford wasted little time capitalizing on the opportunity.
Led by Oliver, Frank and Zoey Mullings, the Lady Indians put together a 22 – 4 run to take a 30-7 lead into the half.
Mullings, in particular, found success against Catholic’s smaller front line, scoring 7 of her 18 points in the half.
Strafford head coach Steve Frank praised both Mullings and his team’s effort pushing the ball up the court.
“[Zoey] did an excellent job getting out and running the lane,” Frank said. “For everyone tonight, we really did a good job in transition. They tried to slow the game down on us early, but once we got into transition, it really sped things up.”
Chittenden returned to the lineup; however, things didn’t get any easier for the Lady Irish.
An Edwards basket at the buzzer cut the Strafford led to 54-18 after three, but Catholic had few answers down the stretch for the Lady Indians.
Haley Frank led all scorers with 21 points for Strafford, now 28-0 for the season and 44-0 for its current win streak dating back to last season. Frank was joined in double figures by Mullings’ 18 and Oliver’s 15 points.
Jaycee Cabasi led Catholic (17-11) with 10 points.
Varsity final: Strafford – 68, Springfield Catholic – 29
Strafford – 18 12 24 14 — 68
Catholic – 05 02 11 11 — 29
Strafford scoring: Hayley Frank – 21, Zoey Mullings – 18, Abby Oliver – 15, Kaley Frank – 7, Kyndall Compton – 3, Mica Chadwell – 3, Logan Jones – 1
Catholic scoring: Jaycee Cabasi – 10, Lilly Edwards – 7, Madison Chittenden – 4, Olivia Wilson – 3, Lauren Zolfaghari – 3, Emma Lucas – 2
Clever vs Fair Grove
The nightcap between Clever and Fair Grove, a 63-59 victory for the Lady Jays, revealed a trio of interesting tidbits.
One … Clever’s four-guard rotation is absolutely capable of shooting the eyes out of the ball.
They Lady Jays made their first five shots of the ball game — all 3-pointers. The torrid start helped key a 24-11 run and gave Clever a double-digit cushion it would hold until the game’s final minutes.
CLICK HERE FOR FAIR GROVE VS. CLEVER PHOTOS
With three 3-pointers, Harper Little accounted for 11 of Clever’s first-quarter points. Abi Menzies and Allie Clevenger joined the long-bomb party for the Lady Jays.
Clever head coach Dan Jones attributed the quick start to the team’s renewed focus in the gym late in the season.
“The girls have been shooting a lot in the gym, have gotten some of the demons out of their head and they’ve been knocking down shots,” Jones said. “That was huge for us.”
A quartet of Lady Jays notched double-figures in the scorebook, including Menzies’ 17, Hannah Maples’ 14, Little’s 13 and Clevenger’s 10 points.
Two … Alana Findley is one of the area’s scariest fourth-quarter finishers, regardless of class.
After picking up a pair of fouls in the first quarter, Findley’s slow start led to only four points in the first half; however, the Fair Grove sophomore heated up in the third before going Super Saiyan in the fourth with 14 points.
Findley’s personal 9-3 run in the fourth helped the Lady Eagles cut the lead to to a single basket at 57-54 with 2:00 left on the clock.
Unfortunately for Fair Grove, Findley fouled out on the next possession going after her own missed free throw.
With a three-point lead and Fair Grove’s leading scorer on the bench, Jones shifted Clever into a 2-3 zone to limit any further penetration from the Lady Eagles.
“Hats off to Findley, because she can flat-out get it done,” Jones said. “I was just really impressed with the way she took it to the bank, knocked down free throws and got them in the game.”
Findley led all scorers in the contest with 26 points and was joined in double figures by Lexi Sutherland’s 10.
Three … While the 3-pointer is all the rage these days, free throws still matter.
Specifically, the fourth-quarter, nail-biting variety.
With both team’s opting for full-court pressure throughout much of the second half, foul counts quickly mounted. By the time the clock reached the 6:30 mark in the fourth quarter, both teams were in the bonus, turning the stretch run into a test of wills at the free throw line.
How much of a test?
Clever’s four-point margin of victory was keyed by a whopping 14-16 team effort from the line during the final frame, led by a 7-8 mark from Menzies.
Quite a closing run from the Lady Jays, and also very much needed, as Fair Grove’s 12-15 result was enough to get the Lady Eagles within striking distance.
Findley’s 10-11 mark from the line paced Fair Grove, with the lone miss resulting in her fifth foul.
For Fair Grove (19-9) and head coach Jenny Talbert, that fifth foul call ultimately thwarted the team’s furious comeback attempt.
“I knew we were capable of coming back,” Talbert said. “Big blow when they called that loose-ball foul on Findley. I really liked my chances with my best player on the floor, and they kind of took her away calling that loose-ball foul on her … that hurt. My girls fought ‘till the end, and I was proud of them, but we dug ourselves too big a hole from the beginning.”
Varsity final: Clever – 63, Fair Grove – 59
Clever 22 12 11 18 — 63
Fair Grove 10 11 14 23 — 59
Clever scoring: Abi Menzies – 17, Hannah Maples – 14, Harper Little – 13, Allie Clevenger – 10, Madison Newman – 6, Tessa Newman – 3
Fair Grove scoring: Alana Findley – 26, Lexie Sutherland – 10, Harley Maxwell – 8, Lorin Weaver – 5, Taylor Bell – 5, Cydney Fullerton – 3, Maddie Clark – 2
