By Chris Parker
The Norwood girls basketball team is heading back to the final four for the first time since 1998 after beating Summit Conference rival Fordland 47-39 on Saturday.
It was a longtime coming for both the program and their star senior Kaytlynn Drake.
Norwood entered the season with a new head coach in Wayne Jessen coming off a two-win season in 2021-22 and a one-win campaign in the year prior. Both seasons Drake had to watch from the sidelines after tearing an ACL in one knee before her sophomore year and the other ACL prior to her junior year.
Jessen took over the program this year and immediately saw the potential.
“They’ve come a long way. I remember my first open gym when I got the job I had the girls playing and thought ‘wow, I can’t believe nobody took this job’,” Jessen said. “We had some good young players and we just needed to gel.”
Drake was excited to be able to be out on the court for the first time in two years.
“I was every practice unless I was at physical therapy for two years, so it was hard for me to watch my team doing what I couldn’t do and knowing that I couldn’t help them,” Drake said. “Those last two years have pushed me to be the best leader that I can be for my teammates and be the best team player I can be.”
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Her leadership has been key throughout the season, but especially on Saturday in the state quarterfinal round.
Fordland jumped out to a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter forcing a Norwood timeout. From that point on, Norwood outscored Fordland by 16 points.
“We needed to attack the basket instead of settling for outside shots. That is what has been working for us here of late,” Jessen said. “That has usually been our bread and butter attacking the glass and Fordland did a good job of blocking out and denying us that.”
The run from trailing 14-7 deficit to a 47-39 win coincided with Drake getting going offensively.
She scored just three first-quarter points. In the second quarter, she poured in nine points as Norwood carried a 20-19 lead into the half with Drake accounting for 12 of the 20 points.
“I just knew I didn’t want it to be the last (game),” Drake said. “I didn’t want to go out on a loss. I didn’t want this to be where it ended. I knew that if we wanted to come out on top and we wanted to keep going we were going to have to pull through and start going for it.”
“She (Drake) is our leader,” Jessen said. “She is a great leader on and off the court. She is a great kid. You’d hire her to do anything. She never complains and works hard. It doesn’t matter if you get on to her or not her attitude is still the same. She just wants everybody to succeed. She is really happy for her teammates more than anything.”
Norwood got rolling even more in the second half with a 14-6 advantage in the third quarter before putting the game away 47-39.
Norwood (23-6) will face Tipton (29-1) in the Class 2 state semifinals.
“We need to enjoy it,” Jessen said. “They are high school kids. We are going to work on what we need to work on. I am sure we will probably have to play Tipton. They are probably the most dominant 2A team girls program right now in Missouri. It is going to be a tough task for us, but we are glad we are getting the opportunity.”
The Class 2 state semifinal between Norwood and Tipton is schedule to tip off at 8 pm on Friday at Hammons Student Center on the campus of Missouri State University.
“I am over the moon excited,” Drake said. “I can hardly believe it. We are going to put in the work. We are going to come next week and watch film and prepare and get the practices in. We are coming to win next week.”
