By Kary Booher (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
BOLIVAR, Mo. – She sports a braided ponytail, she’s isn’t too vocal and the headlines usually fall on a pair of 6-foot-2 small-school posts.
What a perfect disguise. Then again, Kate Drieling better be careful. The word is going to get out.
Dreiling knocked down a game-turning 3-pointer in the third quarter, and Katilin Scott finished with 31 points as the Carl Junction Lady Bulldogs captured a Class 4 quarterfinal win, beating Osage 55-41 on Saturday at the Meyer Center.
It was Dreiling’s only shot attempt of the game at the 4:40 mark of the third and came days after hitting a big fourth-quarter bucket in the sectional. Hers’ Saturday gave Carl Junction the separator it needed, boosting the Lady Bulldogs a seven-point advantage in what had been a tight game and helping to send them to their second consecutive Final Four.
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Asked how often she shoots the ball, Dreiling smiled and politely said, “Not that often. Maybe one or two times a game. I just take it when Coach tells me.”
Which he did.
“Kate’s always been that role player for us, that glue player,” Carl Junction coach Brad Shorter said. “She has such a great attitude and plays just so hard. But she’s able to hit those shots. We like to do the inside-out pass to line up to hit the 3, and she got an inside-out pass, and I said, ‘Hit it.’”
Carl Junction plays in the state semifinal Friday at JQH Arena.
“This is surreal. We finally asserted ourselves as one of the top programs in Missouri –two years back to back (to the Final Four)? That’s something our school has rarely done, so it’s an amazing experience,” Kaitlin Scott said. “In the second half, we were more conscious of how we played and how we passed.”
Osage had stayed right with Carl Junction throughout, leading 16-12 at the end of the first quarter and forging a 23-23 tie going into halftime.
Scott, a sophomore, and her senior sister, Megan, steadied the way, though, as Osage was forced to contend with their size and ability to work around blocks thanks to nifty footwork.
The two were significant down the stretch, especially Kaitlin. She served as the lead on a pair of high-low plays that opened the Lady Bulldogs’ fourth quarter. The lead hit 10 with 3:58 left when Megan Scott went coast-to-coast, dribbling through traffic and finishing with a layup.
“I thought the Scott sisters were unbelievable basketball players,” Osage coach Scott Rowland said. “What hurt use even more was them finding other players to score. I thought we maybe did too much scout-watching, and that’s my fault for not getting us on the other players. Those other players stepped up tonight.”
Kaitlin Scott said practices paid off, given the second half became even more physical.
“We are a very physical team, one of the few teams with two 6-2 girls, so whenever it gets to that level of physicality, that’s when I think my sister and I and our team we thrive,” Scott said.
Carson Wood finished with a team-high 20 points for Osage, which also received 12 from Kerrigan Gramm, six from Kenzi King and three from Sara Wolf.
Meanwhile, Taylor Hughes (15), Megan Scott (2) and Kenzie Shanks (2) scored for Carl Junction, whose season is moving on thanks to 3-pointer from an unassuming guard.
Said Kaitlin Scott, “That’s what fired us up and finally let us take the lead and run with it. I think was a major turning point in the game.”
