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By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
STRAFFORD – In a matchup of state-ranked teams and conference and district foes, the Strafford Lady Indians held off Skyline 64-57, snapping the Lady Tigers’ six-game winning streak Monday night.
The Lady Indians jumped on Skyline early, scoring five unanswered points within the first 1:27 of the game, forcing the Lady Tigers into turnovers and missed shots to boost Strafford to a 20-12 first-quarter lead.
Another run to begin the second quarter (7-0) allowed the Lady Indians to open up a 38-26 lead at halftime, even after Skyline had pulled with nine late in the quarter. But just before the halftime buzzer, Bailey Chrisman saved a ball from going out of bounds to Emma Compton, who found Emma Mullings open for a 3-pointer to push the Lady Indians’ lead to 38-26.
“There’s so much respect for Skyline and what they do,” Strafford coach Dustin Larsen said. “That’s what teams like that do. We make each other better both ways, I think. I was just proud of our kids to continue to stay steady and play through. We had some challenges, be we just continued to play, continued to believe in each other and we were able to pull it out tonight.”
A key to Strafford’s first-half run was junior forward Sophia Frerking, who scored 14 points and finished with 16. Frerking has seen more minutes since the Lady Indians, ranked No. 2 in Class 3, lost Mattie Walker to an ankle injury in the Republic game on Jan. 27.
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“She’s really been stepping up and just continues to grow and get better,” Larsen said. “We’ve just been super-proud of her and the team’s embraced and really continued to push and challenge her. We know Soph has it in her, it’s just believing in herself. We believe in her deeply and we just want to see her keep getting better.”
Even though Skyline, ranked No. 3 in Class 3, trailed by as many as 16 midway through the third quarter, the Lady Tigers kept Strafford within striking distance heading into the fourth.
Skyline (19-6, 2-1) allowed Strafford only one field goal early in the fourth quarter, as it began to chip away, pulling to within seven points on a number of occasions. The Lady Tigers just couldn’t close the gap any more as the Lady Indians hit 10 of 16 free throws in the fourth.
“I think we finally decided that we were going to have to trust ourselves and go play,” Skyline coach Kevin Cheek said. “Coming into it, I think we were prepared. We were mentally ready, but then it came time to get out the floor and we didn’t execute very well early.
“We went to halftime and talked about taking care of the basketball and trusting the stuff we’re trying to execute, and I thought we did a better job in the second half. I thought we rebounded the ball much better. In the first quarter, they did a pretty good job defending stuff and we couldn’t get one to go and with them, you can’t afford to get very far behind.”
The Lady Indians, who improved to 19-5 overall and 3-0 in the Mid-Lakes Conference, had four players score in double figures, led by Frerking and Mullings with 16 apiece. Laney Humble added 13 and Compton chipped in with 12 points and six assists.
“We definitely need everybody to step up and people step up when we need them to step up,” Mullings said. “I felt like we shared the ball very well tonight, and we were hitting shots and we were having fun out there.”
Both teams have one regular-season game remaining before district play starts and could potentially see each other again. Skyline is the No. 1 seed and Strafford is No. 2 in the Class 3 District 11 Tournament, which begins Feb. 22 at Sparta.
“We sure hope so,” Larsen said of seeing Skyline again. “They’ve been playing really well. They had injuries that they had to deal with this offseason, so we knew it was going to be later when they really got full-strength, but they’re looking strong. We’ve just got to continue doing what we’re doing and try to stay healthy. Everyone’s just trying to finish the season strong. We’ve got one more and we’re looking forward to that.”
STRAFFORD 64, SKYLINE 57
Mid-Lakes Conference game
SKYLINE 12-14-13-18—57
STRAFFORD 20-18-13-13—64
SKYLINE (19-6, 3-1) – Miranda Quennoz 8, Grace Edge 2, Justine Barb 26, Kenzi Cheek 12, Ashlen Garrett 6, Emily Edwards 3.
STRAFFORD (19-5, 3-0) – Emma Compton 12, Lauren Jones 5, Sophia Frerking 16, Laney Humble 13, Emma Mullings 16, Bailey Chrisman 2.
Skyline B 54, Strafford B 25
