By Pat Dailey (For OzarkSportsZone.com)
COLUMBIA — Fair Grove continued its incredible winning ways in the post-season, rolling to a 47-19 triumph against St. Pius X in a Class 3 semifinal Friday.
The defending state champion Lady Eagles have reeled off 11 post-season wins in a row dating back to last season.
That streak can actually be upped to 17, if one includes the Fair Grove volleyball team’s six post-season wins on its way to the Class 2 state championship last fall. Make it 18 in a row if one includes the Fair Grove softball team winning the third-place game at the Class 2 State Tournament last spring.
Many of the same players have made up all three teams.
“It feels good to compete and show our school off,” junior forward Shea Skouby said. “We represent our school, and we want to show we can do anything. We might be the smallest in the area, but we’re willing to compete and win.
“I feel like people sleep on us,” junior guard Camdyn Hart said. “We compete better than most of the bigger schools and when we play the bigger schools, they get a little punch in the gut because we’re ready to go.”
Fair Grove (24-7) leaned heavily on its defense. The Lady Eagles were up 25-7 at halftime, despite shooting 7-of-24 from the field in the first half.
“I thought we were a little sluggish, a little slow on the offensive end,” Fair Grove coach Gary Greene said. “I didn’t think early on we were very purposeful in our offense. We took the first shot that came along. You’ve got to get it inside. Finally, we were able to get it where we wanted and we were able to get some easy looks.”
St. Pius X shot 28 percent from the field and committed 28 turnovers.
“Our defense is what we hang our hat on,” Greene said. “While we were struggling offensively, we were able to guard. We spend a lot of time on our defense. We’ll spend an hour a day on defense, whether it’s 2-on-3, 3-on-3 or 5-on-5 full-court. You know it travels. Your defense never takes a day off, (at least) it shouldn’t. When you guard people, you always give yourself a chance.”
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Fair Grove extended its defensive pressure to full-court.
“Coming out and picking them up full-court made them work a little harder than they might have thought,” Greene said. “We don’t do that a lot. We did that today because I felt like we had an advantage with our guards.”
St. Pius X’s leading scorer, Brooke Blankenship, was held to two points, 12 below her season average.
“Abby Green did a great job (on Blankenship),” Greene said. “Abby has defended everybody from post people to guards this year. She’s long and physical and quick. She makes it hard on people.”
The Lady Eagles received a boost off their bench from Skouby. She was 3-for-3 from the field and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line while scoring nine points in only five-plus minutes of playing time in the first half.
“We got some great minutes from Shea,” Greene said.
Fair Grove’s Ashton Bell scored 14 of her 18 points in the second half. She bounced back after enduring 0-for-8 shooting in the first half.
Bell put the turbo clock in effect briefly while putting Fair Grove up 47-16.
Fair Grove’s closest contest on its way to the state title tilt has been a 61-42 quarterfinal win against Fatma. The Lady Eagles won their five post-season games thus far by an average margin of 25 points.
Fair Grove advances to the state championship game at 6 p.m. Saturday.
“The whole season we’ve been preparing for this moment,” Hart said. We knew we’d be back.”
Fair Grove 47, St. Pius X 19
ST. PIUS X (19) — Blankenship 1-5 0-2 2, Charleville 0-4 0-0 0, Clubb 2-7 0-0 5, Krodinger 2-4 0-2 4, Flanagan 0-2 0-0 0, Norton 2-3 0-0 6.
FAIR GROVE (47) — Daniels 0-4 2-2 2, Hart 3-8 0-0 7, Padgett 0-1 1-2 1, Green 3-6 0-2 6, Bell 4-16 10-10 18, Findley 2-2 0-0 4, Skouby 3-5 3-3 9.
St. Pius X 5 2 5 7 – 19
Fair Grove 8 16 10 12 – 47
3-point goals – Norton 2, Clubb, Hart.
