By Chris Parker
The Fair Grove girls basketball team is going to the final four for the second time in program history and first time since 2009 after surviving Mansfield 39-37 on Saturday afternoon in Warrensburg.
Possessions were at a premium in the game magnifying every trip down the court.
“I told them before the game that there was going to be highs; there are going to be lows. We are going to have good calls and bad calls. It is going to be a rollercoaster, so you just have to ride it through and stick together and stay as one solid unit,” Fair Grove head coach Jenny Talbert said.
The highs came early for Fair Grove with the Eagles taking a 12-7 lead after one quarter and an 18-14 lead at half. Mansfield continued to chip away at the deficit and had it down to one at 29-28 after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, the rollercoaster turned in Mansfield’s favor with the Lions taking a 30-29 lead with 7:12 left in the game.
“A lot of that was them getting second chances and loose balls,” Fair Grove senior Kameron Green said. “Everything was coming out on their end, so we decided we needed to work harder. Coach was on us that if the ball was on the ground it is our job to go get it.”
The game went back-and-forth for a few minutes before Fair Grove climbed back into the lead at 35-34 with 2:45 left in the game.
Fair Grove was able to extend the lead to 37-34 on a pair of free throws with under a minute left in the game, but Mansfield’s Logan Jones had the answer with jumper to cut the lead to 37-36 with 30.6 seconds left.
Mansfield fouled on the ensuing possession. Fair Grove hit one free throw to expand its lead to 38-36 with 24.6 seconds left in the game.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Fair Grove’s defense stepped up on the next Mansfield possession forcing a 10-second call which led to a Fair Grove possession and another free throw attempt. The Eagles missed the front end of the one-and-one and fouled Mansfield on the rebound giving the Lions a chance to tie the game with 8.7 seconds left. One free throw went down for Mansfield to make the score 38-37.
Mansfield was not done yet.
The Lions fouled Brooke Daniels immediately. Fair Grove backed off the line leaving Daniels with four Mansfield players for her two free throws.
Daniels missed both free throws, but made up for it by coming away with the rebound on her own miss to get back to the line.
“That was not surprise for me because Brooke is one of our best rebounders,” Talbert said. “As our point guard, she is our second-leading rebounder. She was so mad at herself for missing those free throws, I could see it in her eyes; (I was thinking) she is going to go get that rebound and she did. She is one of the fiercest competitors I have ever coached.”
Daniels knocked down one free throw to make it 39-37.
Mansfield drove the length of the floor to attempt a game winning shot, but Daniels was there again to contest and tip the Mansfield shot to end the game a preserve the 39-37 win.
“It is amazing. I am so excited for this group of girls. They have believed in each other since the beginning,” Talbert said. “This was obviously one of our goals, but we have just been taking it one game at a time. Our schedule has built us for these moments. We’ve played some really good teams. We knew it was going to be a very hard road.”
Green, Fair Grove’s lone senior, led the Eagles with 15 points.
“She is kind of the heart and soul of our team being the only senior. She has kind of raised these girls up. She is great leader for them to watch and depend on. She really led us in the lane tonight. Mansfield did a good job trying to take her away and she just kept battling.”
Logan and Lauren Jones led Mansfield with 15 points each.
Fair Grove (26-4) advances to face Mid-Lakes Conference rival Skyline (23-6) in the Class 3 state semifinals at 8 pm on Friday at Great Southern Bank Arena on the campus of Missouri State University.
“We keep saying we aren’t done practicing,” Talbert said. “We want to go to practice. We want to keep playing. We are excited. We are going to enjoy this, but we know our ultimate goal is that state title. We are going to do everything we can to try to get there.”
“I am going to cherish this whole week,” Green said. “I have been cherishing this whole season. It has been amazing to have them to back me up throughout the whole volleyball and basketball season. I will miss them a lot, but we still have a week.”
Fair Grove – 12-6-11-10 — 39
Mansfield – 7-7-14-9 — 37
F: Kameron Green 15, Brooke Daniels 8, Ashton Bell 7, Camdyn Hart 5, Emma Padgett 2, Hannah Maxwell 2, Shea Skouby 2
M: Logan Jones 15, Lauren Jones 15, Chloe Lemons 3, Macie Tate 3, Harleigh Hodges 1
