By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Aurora’s biggest lead of the night turned into a double-digit deficit in a matter of minutes on Friday night, and the Lady Houns’ hopes for their first-ever final four appearance in girls basketball faded away with the 17-0 run that flipped the script.
Visiting Owensville withstood Aurora’s late run––and a shot to tie the game in the final seconds––and downed the Lady Houns 38-35 in Class 4 quarterfinal action in front of a raucous crowd at Aurora High School.
“We set the record for most wins in a season,” Aurora coach Jason Cole said. “It was only the third time in school history we’ve been to the quarterfinals and we were hoping to be the team to see the final four. We didn’t get there and I know there’s a sting within the locker room. I’m sure they won’t be satisfied with that as we move forward. We’ve got to regroup and put forward the best effort we can next year to keep that momentum going.”
Aurora finished with a 25-5 record, a five-win improvement from last season, and the team did so with a roster featuring five juniors, three sophomores and three freshmen.
The Lady Houns were in good shape to start Friday night. Aurora trailed for less than four minutes in the first half and led 11-10 after a quarter and 17-15 at the half. And the team opened the third quarter with a layup and a 3-pointer from Kylee Cole, who had been held to just two points in the first half. Her five quick points in the third made it a 22-15 game
“It was kind of getting away from us and I called timeout,” Owensville coach John VanLeer said. “Our girls have been resilient all year in those situations and I said we’ve got to lock down on defense and start making some shots.”
The Dutchgirls did just that––they went on to score on five of six possessions and came away with three points each time; Owensville made four 3-pointers in the third quarter alone, and also made three free throws after an Aurora foul on another 3-point attempt.
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By the time the third quarter was over, Aurora trailed 32-22 and hadn’t scored in more than six minutes. The Houn Dawgs, who only turned it over twice in the first half, gave it away four times in the third alone.
“I didn’t want to burn all of our timeouts in the middle of that run but we tried to use as many as we could to try to stop it,” Cole said. “We had a lot of opportunities offensively during that run and some 50/50 balls we didn’t come up with that ended up kicking out for some 3’s they hit. Just a lot of unfortunate things that went on during that time.”
Aurora trailed 35-24 with 6:19 left in the game but didn’t go down without a fight. The Lady Houns went on an 11-2 run that saw Cole and junior Jaelyn Ernest do all the damage. A 3-pointer by Ernest made it 37-31 with 3:23 left, and then Cole made two free throws with 1:35 on the clock to get within four. She scored on a put-back with 42 seconds left that made it 37-35.
Owensville then made 1 of 2 free throws with 25 seconds remaining, leaving the door open for Aurora, but the Lady Houns missed a late 3-pointer and the Dutchgirls grabbed the rebound to finish it.
“You’ve got to give them credit,” VanLeer said. “We had about a 10-point lead with a few minutes left to go and they battled all the way back and had a chance to tie it there. Very physical game. The refs did a great job letting the kids decide the game.”
“We knew going in they were going to be really strong defensively,” Cole said. “I feel like their program and our program kind of mirror each other where we know we’re not the type of team that’s going to go and blow people out. We’re both looking to get stops on the defensive end. They just got a few more stops than we did to finish out.”
Kylee Cole led Aurora with 15 points and scored eight in the fourth quarter. Ernest scored 7, Makena Hall scored 6, Jaysa Ernest scored 3 and Nadia Davis scored 2.
Owensville (22-7) will take on 26-4 Central (Park Hills) on March 13 in the semifinals. The Dutchgirls placed third in Class 4 in 2016.
“As a player I’m not sure how much more motivation you need than losing that game there and knowing you had a shot to get to the final four,” Cole said. “I would really think with the group we have and the coaching staff that we aren’t satisfied. We’re happy with the progress we made this year but we feel like there’s some unfinished business, too, on the floor as we go forward.”
