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By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Ashton Judd and the West Plains Lady Zizzers took some deep breaths at halftime.
It wasn’t due to the stress of a 26-23 deficit.
The Lady Zizzers were just exhausted after a grueling first half in Friday’s Class 5 Show-Me Showdown semifinals.
“We were really tired, dead-legged,” said West Plains coach Scott Womack. “I’m really proud of these girls. They don’t panic and they just keep fighting. They know we’ll win on the defensive end.”
West Plains had a bounce-back second half, shutting down Smithville’s scoring on its way to a 48-37 victory at JQH Arena.
Smithville totaled just 11 points on four field goals after halftime.
Judd, a senior forward and Mizzou commit, scored a game-high 20 to go with six rebounds. Teammate Allyssa Joyner added 14 points.
“We were gassed in the second quarter, so getting out of our (full-court) press really helped,” Judd said. “We just focused on our half-court efforts. Defensively, we did a really good job cracking down in the second half.”
The Lady Zizzers play a familiar foe in Saturday’s championship game.
West Plains takes on defending Class 5 state champion Whitfield at 2 p.m. at JQH Arena in Springfield.
Whitfield beat West Plains 50-34 in last year’s Class 5 championship game.
“They’re a loaded team,” Womack said. “We’ll have to play better offensively. We played with them for three quarters last year. We struggled in the fourth quarter trying to score against them.’
“We’ll enjoy this win for now and start breaking down the gameplan for Whitfield tonight.”
West Plains will be seeking its second state championship in program history. The Lady Zizzers won the 1998 Class 4A title.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
West Plains secured Friday’s win with defense.
Smithville led 26-23 at halftime thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from freshman reserve Peyton Wohlford to end the first half. She led Smithville with 11 points.
Like West Plains, Smithville was also playing on tired legs by that point.
“There literally were girls whose faces were bright red at halftime,” said Smithville coach Trevor Mosby. “I didn’t really notice it during the first half, maybe I should’ve tried to sub a little better. I was going to sub when (Judd) came out, and (Judd) never came out.”
Wohlford’s basket proved to be a wakeup call for West Plains.
The Lady Zizzers (26-4 overall, No. 2-ranked in MBCA Class 5 state poll) began the second half with 12 unanswered points. Smithville didn’t score until another Wohlford 3-pointer with 2:06 remaining in the third quarter cut West Plains’s lead to 35-29.
After Smithville had drawn within 37-32 early in the fourth quarter, West Plains reeled off 10 straight points to put the game away for good.
Entering postseason play, Smithville didn’t have a player averaging double-figure scoring.
“Sometimes when the other team sneaks a good player in off the bench, you don’t notice it unless we’re all talking out there,” Womack said. “They had a lot of options. You couldn’t just concentrate on one player.”
Smithville shot 13-for-31 from the field overall and committed 23 turnovers against West Plains’s matchup zone.
“The game came down to the way we played defense,” Womack said. “We didn’t defend very well in the first half, especially around the (3-point) arc. I didn’t have to say a lot to (the players) at halftime about that; I think they knew that.”
Four West Plains starters finished with four or more steals. Womack praised the defensive efforts of junior guard Georgia Osborne.
“She was everywhere,” Womack said. “She had so many deflections and steals.”
West Plains 48, Smithville 37
West Plains 10 13 12 13 — 48
Smithville 7 19 3 8 — 37
West Plains (26-4 overall) – Ashton Judd 20, Allyssa Joyner 14, Kaylea Dixon 5, Georgia Osborn 4, Zoey Williams 3, Olivia Lawson 2
Smithville (21-9 overall) – Peyton Wohlford 11, Mackenzie Moes 8, Rylee Thompson 6, Kali Brown 4, Hanna Heath 3, Abigail Payne 3, Abigail Crim 2
