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By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Even when it looked like they might be down, you can never count out the Strafford Lady Indians.
Held to two points in the third quarter and trailing by eight heading into the fourth, Strafford used an eight-point swing in the last four minutes of the game to gain the momentum and pull out a 45-43 White Division championship over West Plains on Thursday afternoon.
“One thing, we never stopped believing,” Strafford coach Dustin Larsen said. “Our kids know when the buzzer sounds is when this one’s over and when we to teach them with that mind-set – just keep believing, keep playing hard and keep being determined. I’m just so proud of the kids and how they finished 2021, and we’re looking forward to 2022.”
The title was the first for Strafford since they won back-to-back-to-back Pink Division championships in the Pink and White Lady Classic in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
“It feels good. It feels really good,” Strafford senior guard Emma Compton said. “It means so much. It’s exciting. We’ve wanted to do this for a long time, and so we finally did it and it’s all we could ask for.”
After a late game the previous night, West Plains came out strong in the championship, opening with a 5-0 run and taking a 15-8 first-quarter lead. Strafford outscored the Lady Zizzers 9-2 in the final four minutes of the second quarter to take a slim 23-22 lead into the locker room.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
West Plains limited Strafford to a Lauren Jones bucket in the third quarter and extended its lead to eight heading into the final quarter. A 6-0 run pulled the Lady Indians within two (32-30) with 6:43 to go and began to chip away at the Lady Zizzer lead.
Strafford took its first lead of the game with 3:36 left on a Compton 3-pointer from the baseline. A Laney Humble steal and 3 from the baseline later, and the Lady Indians were up 39-34, but West Plains hung around.
With seconds to go, Ashton Judd scored on an up-an-under move and was fouled. Her free throw pulled West Plains to within two (45-43) and the Lady Zizzers picked up a loose ball that became a held ball with possession staying with West Plains.
The Lady Zizzers had opportunities in the final seconds to win or at least tie the game, but Humble ripped the ball away from a West Plains player and that was the ballgame.
“The whole game, it was just a battle,” Larsen said. “I have so much respect for their program and Coach Womack and everything they do. When you have a team like that, you know they’re not going to give up either.”
Coming off two late-night games and the long drive from West Plains, coach Scott Womack was proud of his team’s effort.
“You are always worried about their energy on the fourth day, but I thought we played with a lot of energy,” Womack said. “But maybe we did have a few lazy passes and we didn’t close out as well in the fourth quarter as we needed to and foul trouble hurt us a little bit. But I’ve got to give our girls credit. They hung in there when they got down five and kept fighting back when we had the ball with a chance to tie or win at the end.
“Three years in a row in championship games, lose by one three years ago, a triple-overtime game last year and then lose by two this year. We’ve been in every game, and it comes down just a few possessions.”
(3) STRAFFORD 45, (5) WEST PLAINS 43
Pink and White Lady Classic
White Championship
WEST PLAINS 15-8-9-11—43
STRAFFORD 11-11-2-21—45
(5) WEST PLAINS (9-2) – Zoey Williams 6, Allyssa Joyner 8, Ashton Judd 15, Olivia Lawson 8, Kaylea Dixon 6.
(3) STRAFFORD (9-1) – Emma Compton 11, Lauren Jones 12, Laney Humble 11, Emma Mullings 5, Mattilyn Walker 2, Bailey Chrisman 4.
