Jan 5, 2009                        Check Out previous Blogs

OK--it's finally over now. Most students have enjoyed a 2 week holiday from their studies. It'll be back to the grindstone on Monday. While you were gone, there were tons of Christmas cookies (oops...I forgot...they're gone now), holiday tournaments, followed by breaks and then the resumption of games.

Some highlights from the Holiday tournaments--

When the Neosho girls won their Holiday tournament for the first time, there were some smiles and some frowns. Despite beating Springfield 51-37 in the title tilt, Neosho's leading scorers, Savannah Snow went down with an injury to her left leg. At that point, her sister took things into her own hands. She scored 21, including 5 treys, was named the Tourney MVP and scored her 1000^th point of her career after the injury. Ironically, Savannah injured her other leg in last year's tournament !

            At Ozark, it was a sweep !  Yes the boys and Girls teams won the Blue & Gold (boys) tournament and the Girls captured the Pink & White(Girls) titles at McDonald Arena in Springfield over the Break as each team knocked of Glendale for the championship! The Lady Tigers (9-1) avenged an earlier loss to the Falcons (6-4) 52-41. Bri Anton finished with a game-high 18 points for Ozark

         Yes--one super player can carry a team offensively--just ask Carthage. Carthage was smelling upset as they led the Mt Vernon Mountaineers 42-28 after 3 quarters. At that point, Zach Klein took over for the Mountaineers. He dropped in 21 4^th quarters points as Mt Vernon outscored Carthage 30-12 in the final quarter to grab 58-54 win. The 6-5 Jr Klein finished with 37 points including a sizzling 19 of 21 (including 18 straight!) from the charity stripe.

             The Nixa Lady Eagles were outrebounded 35-24 on the boards as they fell to Midwest, Oklahoma in the Championship game of the   Lady Classic 55-44. The Eagles had a comfortable 23-11 lead but the deficit on the boards proved to be the difference.

             Bryant Allen was last seen prancing into the end zone after a long return, or an interception or a long catch, not now. Now's he's back to knocking down baskets. Allen scored the winning basket in the STATE Championship game with 4 seconds left. This year, he's up to his old tricks. He scored 36 points in leading the Maplewood Richmond-Hts Blue Devils to a 63-58 win in the Championship game of the Normandy Tournament. Allen is headed to the University of Minnesota where he intends to play football and basketball.

         Traveling to Arizona, the St Joseph Academy Angels were invited to compete in a national tournament. Talk about "toughening up your squad". Take a look at the trip and you'll easily see that a won-lost record doesn't always tell the complete story. Seeded 16^th, the Angels opened with the #1 seed from California. St Marys (#1 seed) was ranked #1 in the USA Today rankings. Three of their players are high D-1 players. Scouts from UCLA, USC, Texas, Notre Dame, Uconn, Stanford, Michigan, Tennessee and many more filled the seats to watch St Marys. St Joe was within 5 points with 2 minutes remaining but fell. The Angels then knocked off Lincoln (Dallas, Tx) in round two. Brea(Cal) beat the Angels by 11 but were within 3 points with 1:08 when SJA missed a trey, began fouling and fell out of the game. The final round game against Clovis was a carbon copy of the Brea game.  Three losses--four great games against the nations best teams. Do the losses really matter ?

SINCE THE HOLIDAYS---MORE "SPECIALS"

     James Hosey led the Truman Patriots to a win over Park Hill 69-64 in a Suburban Six Conference win. Hosey's 30 points, including 14 during the final quarter, helped the Patriots overcome a quick 8-0 deficit in the game.

One good 3-ball deserves another was the motto at Ft Osage. Kearney's (5-5)Kat Barrow dropped in a 3-pointer to tie the game at 51 with 28 seconds, Ft Osage answered right back. Launching a buzzer-beating trey, Kelcy Vanarsdall banked it in for the winning difference in the 54-51 win. No--she didn't call it in advance--but it still counts in this game!

Coach Ronnie Cookson doesn't miss a trick! Maybe that's why he's won 700 (or more)games. Coach Cookson took this high flying Scott County Central Braves to Columbia to participate in the the MFA Oil/Break Time Shootout held at Mizzou Arena. He wanted his squad to "get the fee" for Mizzou Arena so that they'll be more comfortable in March in the STATE. Looks like they adjusted easily to Mizzou Arena. The Braves trampled Harrisburg 76-45 to raise their season mark to 11-1.

Rock Bridge Lady Bruins (10-2) outlasted a determined Nerinx Hall team 47-45. Ms Inside (Katherine Harry) and Ms. Outside Amaya Williams led the team at different times (Harry in the 1st quarter and Williams in the 4th quarter) of the game. The Bruin victory will have many forget the outstanding 26 point performance of Mary Beth Mathias of Nerinx.

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