By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Boosted by a stingy defense and a new press, the Hurley girls basketball team beat Exeter on Saturday for the third time this season, but this win was the most important.
The Tigers built a double-digit lead in the first half and then went on an 18-5 run in the second half to knock off the other Tigers 48-29 in the Class 1 District 3 championship game at Verona. It’s Hurley’s first district title since 2003.
“The girls worked hard today and they’ve been working all year on this,” Hurley coach Joey Little said. “Once the season started this was our goal, to get to play for the championship. We struggled in that second quarter with our offense, but we seemed to turn it around in the third, scored some more points and we were more aggressive. I’ve got to give it to Exeter, they were short a girl but they played hard.”
Hurley, 19-9, advances to the sectional round against the District 4 winner on Tuesday.
The Tigers set the tone early with their pressing defense and forced a bevy of turnovers while outscoring Exeter 10-2 in the first eight minutes. Senior Jaema Schimmels scored the first three baskets of the game on layups.
Hurley led 15-3 early in the second quarter following a 3-point play by Schimmels, but Exeter rallied with three-straight baskets by Shea Hilburn to cut it to 15-9 by halftime.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Hurley had Exeter back on its heels, though, in a third quarter that saw the top seeded Tigers outscore second seed Exeter 14-4 with Schimmels and Addison Maxwell each making 3-pointers and Madison Conrad scoring six points, too. Exeter was held scoreless for the first four-and-a-half minutes and then didn’t score in the final 2:52 of the period.
“We talked about anticipation on those passes, and we threw in a new press,” Little said. “This is the first time we used that press today, a little containment press. I had watched some film on them and they do like to throw it long so I felt like a little containment would help and we anticipated the ball really well.”
Exeter made Hurley play the full 32 minutes, however. Hurley led by 19 early in the fourth quarter but Exeter scored six straight points to make it 33-20 with 3:48 left. Hurley led 38-20 after a layup by Schimmels with 2:26 on the clock, and Exeter then got it back to 14.
Hurley’s Conrad, a senior, scored underneath the basket with 1:25 on the clock and then came up with a steal and layup. Then, with 46 seconds remaining, Schimmels scored a layup and was fouled. Her free throw made it 45-24 and all but ended the game.
“I’ve got three seniors on this team (Schimmels, Dacia Grubbs, Conrad) and three sophomores and then we have a freshman who wasn’t able to be here today,” Little said. “My three seniors have been the leaders of this team all year long. Two of them scored 1,000 points, one of them over Christmas and the other a few games after. They’ve been my scorers for years and I have to say I have five girls on this team who haven’t missed a practice in two years. I mean that’s dedication.”
“We had a good crowd tonight,” Little said. “We brought a pep bus, we had 30 or 40 people on that bus and it was exciting.”
Exeter finished the season with a 12-15 record. Coach Jennifer Young said the team had set a goal of at least 12 wins and also aimed to get past the first round of districts, which the Tigers obviously surpassed.
“Win or lose today we were just proud to be here and thankful for the opportunity,” she said.
“I think we were just too nervous, we beat ourselves,” Young said. “We could not hit anything, couldn’t even hit a layup because we were just too nervous. I think by the time we finally warmed up and were ready to play there wasn’t enough time left in the game, but we finally turned it on, it was just a little too late. We played with heart and we kept playing and you can’t expect anything else. They left it all on the floor.”
Exeter was led by Hilburn’s 15 points. Jaylee Hawkins scored 5, Breely Willis scored 4, Beatriz Alcaraz scored 4, Honesty Hall scored 3 and Gracie McCracken scored 2.
Schimmels led Hurley with 19 points. Conrad scored all 10 of her points in the second half. Grubbs and Addison Maxwell each scored 6, and Hayden Young scored 3.
“I’m just proud of these girls,” Little said. “We had six or seven girls all year long and they worked hard. It’s hard to practice with six or seven girls. They were there all the time. We practiced a lot of Sundays and they never complained. I’m just so proud of them.”
