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By Riley Bean
Bolivar, MO – Before Saturday’s game, The Lady Zizzers have competed in the district championship game the past two seasons. They’ve come up one game short each time.
But on Saturday, third time was a charm for West Plains. They finally sealed the deal and came out of the Class 4, District 9 tournament as champions over Rogersville 46-40.
“I think it’s big to them. It is one of those things that nobody can ever take away from them,” said West Plains head coach Scott Womack. “If they lose this one today, then they feel like, ‘Hey, we had three chances and we didn’t ever get it.’ Now they can have something where they can always say, ‘Hey, we were district champions.”
West Plains set the tone in the second quarter. They trailed 14-12 after the first period, but stormed back in the second, outscoring Rogersville 13-2 to take a 25-16 lead into the half.
“The girls did an outstanding job in the first half,” Womack said. “I thought our defense was really good, in the second quarter especially. I think we held them to two points. We were able to get a little lead there and came out in the third quarter and held our own.”
Rogersville didn’t go away, though. The Lady Wildcats climbed their way back into the game in the fourth quarter. West Plains missed five straight free throws midway through the final frame, leaving the door open for Rogersville to make a comeback.
With 20.5 seconds remaining in the game, Rogersville’s Jordyn Gault stepped to the line and knocked down two free throws to bring the score to within two at 42-40. Gault finished with nine points for Rogersville.
But from that point on, West Plains went 4-4 from the free throw line to make it a two-possession game and secure the victory.
“I knew they were going to make a run,” said Womack. “And then the fourth quarter made it a little interesting because we didn’t make a few free throws there and it let them get back in the game, but I thought our defense throughout the night was really good. We finally made the free throws at the end when we needed to.”
Senior Elle Williams led all scorers with 19 points for West Plains.
“I feel great,” Williams said after the game. “My eighth grade year is whenever they had their last district championship, so it really meant a lot that it is my senior year and we did it.
“We knew that they [Rogersville] were going to try to set the pace because they’re a good team,” she continued. “They know how to work the ball, they know how to keep the tempo and we have a problem with getting too crazy. We knew we would have to come out here and fight hard.”
West Plains (19-9) are set to face Carl Junction (25-2) in the sectional round on March 7.
“It’s just a new game come Tuesday night and that’s all that you care about,” said Womack, “is that at the end of the game, you have more points than the other team.”
West Plains – 12 – 13 – 13 – 8 – 46
Rogersville – 14 – 2 – 13 – 11 – 40
West Plains – Elle Williams 19, Kendra Davidson 12, Payton Richards 9, Abee Shelton 4, Lily Harris 2
Rogersville – Sarah Jordan 10, Jordyn Gault 9, Hailey Brown 9, Taylor Overstreet 8, Maci McHenry 4
