By Pat Dailey (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
BLUE EYE — For the first time in his 20 years at Blue Eye, coach Ken Eifrink was able to celebrate a District championship on his birthday Friday.
Blue Eye busted loose for 28 first-quarter points on its way to a 58-38 triumph over Miller in the Class 2, District 11 championship game.
“My daughter noticed a couple weeks ago that my birthday would land on the night of the District championship,” Elfrink said. “I told her I didn’t care what she got me, if we won the District and that if we didn’t win, I wouldn’t be in a very good mood and wouldn’t care what anyone got me.”
The Lady Bulldogs made sure he would be in a celebratory mood by scoring the game’s first eight points and never looking back. They were up 28-15 after the first quarter and followed up holding Miller to two points in the second quarter to go up by 20 at halftime.
Blue Eye (23-5), which captured its first District title since 2006, made 10 field goals in the first quarter alone, or as many as Miller (19-9) would make all night. The Lady Bulldogs netted four three-point goals over the first eight minutes.
Kohnnar Patton had a trio of treys and 15 first-quarter points en route to a game-high 29.
After controlling the opening tip, Blue Eye immediately lobbed a pass over Miller’s defense to Patton under the Lady Bulldogs’ basket to set her up for a layup and allow her to quickly settle in.
The play was by design.
“There have been times in which she’s struggled to get her first shot,” Elfrink said. “But once she gets rolling, she gets hot. She felt it early tonight and that was a key for us.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Miller’s accomplished 3-point shooters never got on track. The Lady Cardinals managed just two 3s. Lynna Hadlock, who had a single-game school record nine treys earlier this season, was held to one 3 and 11 points.
“They weren’t going to let our shooters go off,” Miller coach Hannah Wilkerson said. “They’re a great team. They’re 23-5 for a reason.”
“Miller shoots it well from the 3-point line, but hats off to my kids,” Elfrink said. “We talked about who their shooters were and the kids listened to our scouting report. We pushed their guards out a little bit and took them out of their offense.”
Foul troubles have hindered Blue Eye in many of its marquee matchups this season. But the Lady Bulldogs were quick on their feet in this one and repeatedly got in front whoever was handling the ball for the Lady Cardinals.
“Coach Elfrink sets us up to have success,” Patton said. “He says to guard without fouling and play defense without your hands. I think we did good with that tonight.”
“Coach told us to be smart,” forward Taylor Arnold added. “But he still wanted us to be playing hard and going for steals.”
After going up 16-3, Blue Eye never let Miller closer than 11 points the rest of the night.
Blue Eye advances to Sectionals next week at Carthage against Saturday’s Pierce City-Sarcoxie winner.
“We’re not done, yet,” Elfrink said. “We cleared a big hurdle. Now, we’ve got a chance to make a great run. I’ve told the kids you don’t get a lot of opportunities like this and to make the most of it.
“When we make shots and play defense like we did tonight, we’re hard to beat.”
Miller 15 2 10 11 — 38
Blue Eye 28 9 12 9 — 58
MILLER (38) — Jasmine Whaley 1, Riley Pennington 4, Shayne Mallory 2, Andre Neuenschwander 3, Lynna Haddock 11, Bethany Gulick 8, Tori Collins 9.
BLUE EYE (58) — Kenedi Larson 12, Kohnnar Patton 29, Taylor Arnold 8, Kenzie Hobbs 3, Katelyn Hansen 4, Addie Forester 2.
