By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
It was a quick celebration on the court for the West Plains girls basketball team after punching its ticket to the state semifinals on Saturday in Bolivar.
Of course, the Zizzers have been there and done that.
West Plains, the defending state champion, is back in the Final Four for the third year in a row after downing Jefferson City 58-38 in a Class 5 quarterfinal at Southwest Baptist University.
“I think the difference on this one is a lot of people doubted us,” head coach Scott Womack said. “After last year and losing Ashton (Judd, the Class 5 Player of the Year) I think these girls made a commitment. They said last year they want to get back. They worked extremely hard this year. I think this is really neat for them because it’s kind of theirs. I’m just extremely proud of them.”
The Zizzers (23-7) continued their scorching postseason run against a Lady Jays team that entered Saturday allowing just 38 points per game. West Plains was nearly halfway to that total by the end of the first quarter, with four different players scoring in the first eight minutes to help the team to an 18-2 lead.
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The Zizzers forced six turnovers in the opening frame and six more in the second.
It was 27-11 at halftime, and a barrage of 3-pointers in the third quarter from senior Kaylea Dixon put to rest any thoughts of a comeback. She made it a 41-20 game with 3:50 left in the period, and her third trey of the quarter made it 50-23.
West Plains poured in 26 points in the third, with Dixon scoring a dozen of those.
By the fourth, it was just a countdown to that postgame celebration and an 8 p.m. Friday semifinal contest against Lutheran St. Charles at the Hammons Student Center in Springfield.
“That’s one of the things you try to build, every coach does, a program to where every year you’re expected to be back here,” Womack said. “I think these girls expected to be back here. There was no doubt in their minds. A lot of groups are just trying to get to the district championship or win the district title, but I think these girls were going to be disappointed if they didn’t get back to the Final Four.”
Dixon was the high scorer for West Plains, with 18 points, and Lawson added 14, including eight in the first quarter. Williams and Joyner each scored eight, Harris had seven and senior Hannah Judd scored three.
Jefferson City’s Hannah Linthacum led the Jays with 19 points.
The Zizzers have now won 12 straight, and most of them in dominant fashion. Only twice in that span have they won by single digits, and in the four games since the start of district play, West Plains has won by an average of 23 points.
“They’ve got a lot of grit and they get along with each other but we don’t just have that one person,” Womack said. “I think we have a variety of people, whether it’s Kaylea hitting three’s or Olivia (Lawson) tonight had a great game. Zoey (Williams) has just been our glue. And then you always have Allyssa (Joyner) there. I thought Drew Harris had a great game tonight, especially in the first half battling on the boards against their big girl. I think it’s a combination of things. This team, one, believes in themselves but has a lot of grit and desire. They work hard every single day. You can see they’re committed to the defensive end. They know that’s what wins it for them.”
