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By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Strafford, Mo. — Hype wasn’t necessary for Thursday’s heavyweight clash between Strafford and Skyline.
State champions from last season in Class 2 and 3, both squads came into the game boasting undefeated records and a pair of championships from last week’s Pink & White Lady Classic.
In the super-unofficial, Pink & White Plus-One Holiday Title match, the Lady Indians rallied late behind junior Hayley Frank’s monster effort to win a 64-59 thriller.
The Class 3 Player of the Year posted 37 points and 21 rebounds on an evening where Strafford found itself in the unfamiliar waters of a fourth-quarter deficit (the first since last year’s Pink & White championship victory over Kentucky No. 1 Mercer County).
Missouri teams in all classes have struggled to stay within 20 points of Strafford. What made Skyline’s approach different on a night where senior standout and Class 2 Player of the Year Kaylee DaMitz was largely held in check?
Lights. Out. Shooting.
Skyline took its first lead of the game on an 11-0 run late in the first quarter, keyed by a trio of consecutive 3-pointers from DaMitz and sophomore Chloe Cole.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
While Strafford kept DaMitz from getting to the rim with her bread-and-butter penetration game, the Lady Indians weren’t able to account for repeated kickouts to Cole on the perimeter.
Shooting almost exclusively from the right wing, Cole knocked down eight 3-pointers to finish with a team-high 24 points.
Strafford head coach Steve Frank knew his team might be in for a long night if Skyline’s torrid shooting continued.
“[Skyline] shot lights out there in the first half,” Coach Frank said. “You’ve got to take your hat off to them and give them credit. I told my kids at halftime, ‘If they shoot like that in the second half, there’s not much you can do about that.’”
Fortunately for Strafford, not much is still enough when you have Hayley Frank.
The 6-foot-2 Mizzou commit poured in 14 points in the second quarter alone, attacking from the top of the key with a lethal combination of perimeter shots and basket drives.
“Offensively, they just didn’t really have the size to match up with me,” Hayley Frank said. “So, I just kind of had to take advantage of that, attack the rim and take what they gave me.”
Skyline took a 38-37 lead into the half and stretched the margin to 55-51 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth, Strafford’s defense began to tighten up, and Skyline’s wide open looks turned into contested shots. The rise in missed shots allowed the Lady Indians to utilize a significant rebounding advantage and rev up the transition game.
“That was just hard-nosed play from our kids,” Coach Frank said. “That’s kind of the unstated thing that I feel like, all year, we’ve done a good job of — just getting out and guarding well, and we create a lot of offense off our defense. Skyline, because they shot such a high percentage that first half, we weren’t able to create that offense.”
While it’s easy to get hypnotized by Hayley Frank’s relentless box-score assault, it was a pair of different names pushing Strafford over the top in this game.
Trailing 50-47 with just over five minutes to play in the game, back-to-back 3-pointers from senior Zoey Mullings and junior Maddison Chittenden launched Strafford into the lead for good.
With momentum shifted, Skyline blinked.
Trailing 62-59, a series of missed opportunities with time running out forced the Lady Tigers into a fouling strategy; however, Hayley Frank’s two free throws with 31 seconds remaining sealed the victory for Strafford.
Despite the miscues, Skyline head coach Kevin Cheek praised his team’s effort on the evening where both teams experienced some unfamiliar territory.
“I thought we had four or five easy ones there from about three minutes on that really needed to go in, and they didn’t,” Cheek said. “I thought we needed to do a better job of executing, but it’s been a long time since we’ve been in a situation where we needed to execute that way playing from behind.”
Echoing Cheek’s thoughts, Coach Frank was thankful for the opportunity to survive a close scare late in the game.
“We’re going to have games like that down the road,” Coach Frank said. “So, it’s good to get ourselves in a game like that. Hopefully, if we’re in that situation again, we’ll respond as good or maybe even better the next time.”
Chittenden joined Hayley Frank in double figures for Strafford with 10 points. DaMitz added 16 for Skyline.
Strafford (14-0) doesn’t have anytime to rest as the Lady Indians travel to St. Louis on Friday to face Principia (10-1). Skyline (12-1) begins play in its own tournament Sat., Jan. 6 against Climax Springs.
Varsity Final: Strafford – 64, Skyline – 59
Strafford 17 20 14 13 — 64
Skyline 21 17 17 04 — 59
Strafford scoring: Hayley Frank – 37, Maddison Chittenden – 10, Zoey Mullings – 8, Kayley Frank – 4, Kyndall Compton – 3, Mica Chadwell – 2
Skyline scoring: Chloe Cole – 24, Kaylee DaMitz – 16, Autumn Garrett – 13, Sarah Cunningham – 3, Valen Logan – 2, Keelie Holmes – 1
JV Final: Strafford – 40, Skyline – 23
(Taylor Treat – 12 points)
