By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The El Dorado Springs girls won the Class 3 state title last season – but lost to Miller in the Stockton tournament championship.
The Bulldogs got some revenge on Saturday as El Dorado Springs pulled away in the second half to topple Miller 53-45 in a battle between state-ranked teams for the 13th Annual Stockton Girls Tournament championship.
It was the fifth straight year the two teams met for the tournament title and the Bulldogs won for the first time since 2020.
“It still wasn’t as pretty as I’d like it to be but our defensive effort was great tonight,” El Dorado Springs coach Beau Swopes said.
The game was tied at 25 three minutes into the third quarter, but the Class 3 No. 2 Bulldogs finished the period on a 14-4 run to take control and then took advantage of the free throw line to hang on.
El Dorado Springs (13-4) was incredible from the line all night – the Bulldogs made 23-of-26 attempts in the game, good for 88% shooting. And in the fourth quarter they made 10 of 12, with Neely Schaaf a perfect 6 for 6.
“You’re going to have to do that if you want to be good,” Swopes said. “We stepped up and hit a lot of free throws in the fourth quarter when it could have gotten tight on us.”
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Macie Mays helped key the third-quarter run with a layup and a 3-pointer. The Bulldogs’ lead grew to 10 on a 3-pointer by Alexis Collins, and Mays and Gracie Mead each scored to keep it a double digit advantage.
The Class 2 No. 3 Cardinals (15-4) got within six points, 45-39, with about two minutes left in the game, but Mays answered with two free throws and then Schaaf made her six in the final 78 seconds.
“Alexis Collins really came in and shot the ball well for us and kind of opened things up a little bit,” Swopes said. “She became more of a threat and they had to watch that shot a little more. In the second half I think we just continued to push the tempo and run and run. We got some open looks there just by them struggling a little bit to get back in transition. The girls stepped up and did what they needed to do.”
“They’re championship caliber,” Miller coach Ryan White said. “They’ve been there, done that. We’re just trying to learn how to be that. We showed spurts tonight of being a really good basketball team and we showed spurts of not being able to stay there and give us a chance at the end. Eldo’s really, really good, coached well and they’ve got a really good player in Macie Mays. We’re happy we competed but we’re kind of upset about it, too. We’re just hoping to keep improving.”
The win was El Dorado Springs’ fifth in a row and it snapped Miller’s seven game streak.
The Bulldogs were led by Mays’ 21 points and Schaaf’s 16. Collins and Tenlie Steward each scored six and Mead had four.
Miller, which made 5 of 12 at the free throw line, was led by 18 points from Loghann Leivan and 13 from Ashlynn Helton. Alyssa Hill scored seven, Rachel Nunez scored four, Kendall Neely had two and Haylie Schnake scored one.
