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By Amanda Perkins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Hartville Lady Eagles dominated the Blue Eye Lady Bulldogs Wednesday night in Class 2 sectional play, 62-36.
Leading scorer Sadie Chisum put up 16 points for Hartville.
“Our coaches gave us a really great scouting report and I think we all stuck to it,” she said. “Our team was all coming together, we all had one thing on our mind, and I think we all helped each other out a lot tonight.”
Chisum was one of four Lady Eagles in double figures.
“It doesn’t even matter if one person has the most points or whatever because as long as we have at least three girls in double figures, we have a pretty good chance every night.”
That balance has been a strength for Hartville all season.
“If we have two or three in double figures, that’s great, but the more balanced we are the better off we are, and they think they can take one person away but we can step up and fill that hole. That makes us a lot more threatening to people and it makes it easier on us as coaches to have some options,” Hartville coach Mike Percival said.
Percival said the game started slow, but Hartville was able to find a groove.
“(We were) kind of counter-punching each other, but eventually we got a rhythm and kind of got away from them a little bit. In a state tournament, that’s tough when you get down. I’ve always been told leads are doubled, so they were in a bad spot and we did some good things,” Percival said.
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A basket separated the teams in the final minutes of the first quarter, but Chisum nailed a jumper to advance Hartville’s lead.
The Lady Eagles controlled scoring to start the second with 12 unanswered points. Ayshia Bettlach connected from downtown to break the scoring draught for Blue Eye with two minutes to play, then quickly added another three. Skyler Divine answered with her own deep shot to separate the teams by 10 points, and Chisum advanced it further with a three. Hartville was up 34-21 at the half.
In the third quarter, Blue Eye began full court pressure, but Hartville led by Chisum was repeatedly able to break the press.
“Well, that’s one of the main things I’ve always worked on,” she said. “When I was little, I’d go outside and I’d just dribble, so it’s really awesome that that just kind of came into play today. It’s just been hammered into my head since I was a little girl.”
The Lady Eagles outscored the Lady Bulldogs by five in the third, and put up 20 points to Blue Eye’s eight in the final frame.
Coach Percival said his defense worked hard.
“We face a lot of teams that shoot the three and Blue Eye does that really well, so we had to really be disciplined and get out there on shooters. They got away from us a few times, but defensively we did a good job. Offensively, we were pretty efficient for the most part. We found some spots where we could score, but Coach Elfrink does a great job with them.”
“Hartville is really good, and Mike does a great job,” said Blue Eye head coach Ken Elfrink. “I thought we were missing shots early and we had a chance in the first half, but we just didn’t put it in the hole. We missed layups, we missed free throws, we missed threes. Defensively I think we played hard and took away some of the transitions they like to do, but we didn’t score.”
Elfrink will miss a special senior class.
“They are leaders. They show up every day to practice. We never had to worry about work ethic, and they just got along. I think that’s going to carry on because this season we showed that even through adverse situations, we competed. They left great character and showed how to do things the right way for the younger kids.”
Blue Eye closes its season with a 21-7 record.
Hartville will take on Miller on at 1:45 p.m. on Saturday in Republic with a trip to the Class 2 Final Four on the line.
Scoring for Hartville: Sadie Chisum, 16; Grace Culver, 14; Skyler Divine, 13; Jadalyn Keith, 10; Katie Still, 3; Mckinley Sanders, 6.
Scoring for Blue Eye: Taylor Arnold, 13; Kohnnar Patton, 10; Kenedi Larson, 7; Ayshia Bettlach, 6.
