By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Only those wearing Red and White thought Chadwick could make it this far.
The Lady Cardinals have the receipts to prove it – the regular season state polls that seemed to skip over them.
Chadwick never cracked the top 5 all season. In the final regular season poll, Chadwick (25-5 overall) wasn’t even in the top 10.
The continuous slight became motivational gold for Chadwick coach Shawn Guerin.
“We used that,” he said. “I told the girls when we got up here: ‘You’ve been the underdog all year. You’re the only team here that’s not state-ranked. So go show them what you can do.’”
Chadwick made a resounding statement on Friday night, handling two-time defending Class 1 state champion Platte Valley (Jefferson-Conception) 55-43 in the Class 1 girls’ Show-Me Showdown semifinals at Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield.
Chadwick raced out to a big first quarter lead (23-8) behind hot shooting and never let up.
After Platte Valley drew within 10 early in the third quarter, Chadwick padded its lead to 18 entering the fourth.
The Lady Cardinals, who shot 49% from the field while limiting the Eagles to 34%, continuously took the fight to a Platte Valley squad seeking its third straight state title.
“We wanted to come out and show people what we can do,” said Chadwick senior guard Cora Michael. “We wanted to show what goes unnoticed.”
Chadwick rode the hot shooting of Maddy Nalley to build its big lead.
Nalley scored 16 of her team-high 24 before halftime. She shot 6-for-10 in the first half, including 3-for-6 from 3-point range and a buzzer-beating trey to close the first quarter.
“I just felt like I was going to have a good game with my shooting,” Nalley said. “My shooting really helps my defense.”
Chadwick will play Meadville (30-0 overall, No. 1 ranked in MBCA Class 1 state poll) in the Class 1 state championship game at 4 p.m. Friday at Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield. Both teams will be seeking their second state championship in history; Chadwick won its state title in 2005.
Just like Thursday’s matchup, Chadwick will be the underdog again. But that hasn’t mattered so far. Chadwick’s postseason run has included wins over No. 5-ranked Delta and No. 4-ranked Platte Valley.
“We’ve used it as (motivation) all year to be honest with you,” Guerin said of the state polls. “I think the highest we ever got was No. 10. We played an extremely tough schedule. Our only losses were to bigger schools who were state-ranked at the time.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Michael finished 13 points for Chadwick. She shot 3-for-5 on 3-point attempts. Sophomore point guard Kerrigan Guerin added 11 points, including a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the third quarter.
At 5’9”, Guerin is also the tallest player on Chadwick’s eight-player roster.
“We could tell on film that (Chadwick) is a guard-oriented team,” said Platte Valley coach Tyler Pedersen. “Their other players really battle and play hard. (Kerrigan) Guerin and (Raeleigh) Little require so much attention. They can go both directions and handle the ball.
“As patient as they are running their offense, they get you spread out on defense and then they turn the corner and you have to step off shooters to give help. We could tell on film that they could shoot it. We didn’t expect them to shoot as well as they did, but they shot it at a high rate today.”
Maggie Collins led Platte Valley (27-4 overall) with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Chadwick used its speed and quickness to counter Platte Valley’s size advantage. The Eagles start two 6-footers in Collins and Aubrey Mattson.
“We had to make (Platte Valley) play our game,” Guerin said. “We knew they had two really, really talented players. We knew they’d try to pound us down low, and they did. We thought if we could put pressure on their guards early and use our speed, we could get a little bit of lead early. Our girls hit shots, too.”
Chadwick 55, Platte Valley 43
Platte Valley 8 9 13 13 — 43
Chadwick 23 6 19 7 — 55
Platte Valley (27-4 overall) – Maggie Collins 25, Brylie Angle 9, Aubrey Mattson 5, Christina Turpin 2, Sarah Langford 2
Chadwick (25-5 overall) – Maddy Nalley 24, Cora Michael 13, Kerrigan Guerin 11, Raeleigh Little 6, Chloe Burkhart 1
