By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
MOUNTAIN GROVE — The Ava Bears are headed back to the big dance.
Their coach celebrated the accomplishment by dancing on his back.
Moments after the Bears defeated Logan-Rogersville to win the Class 4 District 11 championship on Saturday afternoon, players began clamoring for their favorite post-game victory tradition — looking on as head coach Nathan Houk breakdances.
“That’s what we look forward to every game,” Ava senior Sara Mendel said. “Every time we win a game, that’s what we go in the locker room and do.”
It’s a ritual that started during Mendel’s sophomore year, when she helped lead the Bears to their first district championship in a decade. Houk marked the program’s long-awaited return to the state tournament with a victory dance — an instant hit with his players.
“Now I can’t get away from it,” Houk laughed.
The celebration is traditionally reserved for the confines of the Ava locker room.
But after Mendel scored 23 points to lead the Bears to a 47-40 victory over the Wildcats at Mountain Grove High School, there was no reason to wait. After all, Ava had just won its third straight district title, becoming the first group in program history to go back-to-back-to-back.
So as players posed for a photo with their championship plaque and student section, they called for Houk to join them — and he turned the basketball court into his own personal dance floor.
When you think about it, breakdancing is better-suited for larger spaces, anyway.
“Whatever obstacles are in the locker room, we move it out of the way,” said senior Lexie Gastineau, who added 12 points for the Bears. “He’ll just breakdance. It’s just so much fun to watch and we really look forward to it at the end of the game.”
Ava’s only obstacle on Saturday was a young Logan-Rogersville team, which started three freshmen and two juniors and didn’t have a senior on the roster.
The Bears countered with a four-senior starting lineup, which has propelled the team to one of the most successful seasons in school history. No Ava team since at least 2009 has won more games than this year’s group, which improved to 24-4.
“They’ve been playing together since they were in the third grade,” Houk said. “They just have a lot of love and admiration for each other. They don’t care who scores. They just all know their role and own it and carry it out every night on the court.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
But the Wildcats – who lost to Ava by 20 and 15 points in two regular-season games – made things much more difficult this time. They trailed 44-30 with less than 90 seconds to play, but went on a 10-1 run to make it a five-point game in the closing moments.
Houk gave the team some pointed instructions.
“He told us to lock down and get really focused and just finish it out,” Mendel recalled. “He just said ‘Who wants it more?’ And it was us.”
Mendel hit a pair of free throws in the final seconds, helping the Bears survive the scare.
Freshman Hailey Buckman had 17 points for the Wildcats, who finished the year 14-14.
“Luckily, they ran out of time,” Houk said. “But credit to them. They’re well coached and they did a really good job of coming back. They’re going to be a team to deal with. They’re going to be tough for the future.”
Ava’s seniors are also looking ahead, albeit to a much more immediate future.
After back-to-back season-ending losses to teams that eventually reached the Final Four — Mount Vernon in the 2021 sectionals and Helias Catholic in the 2022 quarterfinals — the class of 2023 is determined to avoid a similar fate.
“We’re definitely a lot more hungry,” Mendel said. “We want it so much more than we have the past few years. I mean, there’s no next year for us. We’re working our butts off to get where we want to be.”
Ava will face District 12 champion Aurora (20-8) in the sectional round. Tip-off is set for 7:45 p.m. Tuesday at Missouri S&T’s Gibson Center.
Win that game and the ensuing quarterfinal and the Bears would be just the fourth team — and first girls team — in school history to reach a Final Four in any sport.
They’d also be the school’s first basketball team – in either gender – to achieve that accomplishment.
“The kids, they’ve got high expectations for themselves,” Houk said. “And we hold them to those expectations and they work really hard to try to achieve them.”
The Bears have never lost sight of those aspirations, even as they lost point guard Olivia Gastineau to a season-ending ACL injury during the Pink and White Tournament.
Lexie Gastineau, Oliva’s twin sister, took over the role and has helped the Bears go 15-1 since the calendar flipped to 2023. Their only loss during that stretch came to Fair Grove, who reached the Class 3 Final Four earlier Saturday.
Ava’s only other losses? West Plains, Nixa and Ozark — all Class 5 or 6 programs.
“We had a couple losses to some bigger schools, but we kind of took those as a challenge,” Lexie Gastineau said. “They’ve made us better. We had a few bumps in the road, but we just realized that we had to continue to go. We just push each other and trust each other. No matter what the outcome is, we just keep trusting the process.”
Especially if that process involves some post-game breakdancing.
“It just brings our energy way more up,” Mendel said. “It makes it a fun time for us all.”
“Our thing is have fun, play hard, play smart, play together,” Houk added. “They come out every night and do that.”
LOGAN-ROGERSVILLE 5 8 12 15 — 40
AVA 7 14 12 14 — 47
