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March 8, 2010
We're all set for the Championships of Class 4 & 5 next week in Columbia, MO. Of course, no one would have predicted all of these teams "making it" but all did and all have won it deservedly. Let's take a look at some of the basketball from this week.
The Cinderella team of Class 5, the Holt Indians, had their dream come to a screeching halt when Hillcrest (23-7) upended the Indians 60-48. The Hornets used the magnificent guard play of Trey Starks and Taylor Sade to advance to Columbia. This pair knocked down 18 of 19 free throws to lead Hillcrest to its second trip to the Final Four. Hillcrest hasn't lost since Starks became eligible in January! Starks had 22 points with 16 coming after the halftime buzzer to lead the Hornets in scoring. Meanwhile, Holt will have Dantiel Daniels returning in the post area next year! The Indians who finished 22-8 surprised most everyone this year...that won't happen next year !
Hoping that the 3rd time was a charm, Lee Summit North took on Park Hill South with high hopes in another class 5 quarterfinal game. The Broncos reached the quarterfinal game for the 3rd time in 9 years and were looking for their first win at this level. Park Hill South would have none of it but it wasn't without a battle as the Panthers won 56-49! The Panthers (21-9) saw a comfortable 42-25 lead with 4:19 left in the game get sliced by the hard charging Broncos. North outscored the Panthers 24-14 in the 4th quarter but fell short as Park Hill South scored 12 of their 14 4th quarter points from the foul line. The Panthers(23-7) hit each of their one and one attempts in the 4th quarter to ice the win.
Ranked #1 throughout much of the 09-10 year, Webster Groves (27-3) won the Suburban South Title (as they usually do) but had lost both of their games in February and had a very close call against SLUH. The hard-charging CBC Cadets (22-8)had beaten the defending Class 5 Champ, Chaminade, in district after barely escaping past DeSmet in the semifinals. Each team breezed through their Sectional game. There was lots of anticipation for this game! After a nervous start for both teams 6-10 Ryan Pierson began to "catch & finish" in the post area during the 2nd quarter as CBC led 31-24 at half. WG wasn't going to roll over, the Statesman got red hot from beyond the arc to rally! When WG cooled a bit from the outside, CBC was able to hit FT and control the ball late in the game as the Cadets won 69-57 to earn their 1st trip to Columbia in 13 years.
The 4th Class 5 quarterfinal game saw Oakville (26-4) handle Parkway West (21-7) 53-35. Javier Duren and Toriano Hellems provided too much speed and outside punch for the Longhorns. On the inside, Garret Reeg, despite early foul trouble, demonstrated his strength, inside moves and force as the game unfolded. Many around the STATE thought that the Tigers would "drop off" this year with the graduation of Keith Pickens (moved on to play at Missouri State). Apparently, these Tigers didn't read those reports!
Class 5 Girls action saw the Kickapoo Lady Chiefs (24-5) spread the court for the entire 4th quarter and display tremendous ball control, free throw shooting and poise on way to their way to a 41-24 victory over the Rock Bridge Bruins (24-5). The Bruins were able to only get five field goal attempts in the 4th quarter! Sr guard, Amanda Landolt, was responsible for holding All-State Bruin guard, Amaya Williams to a single point in the win!
Incarnate Word (28-1) lived up to its high expectations with an impressive 67-33 win over Poplar Bluff. The Red Knights will be facing for the 3rd time this year, the Ft Zumwalt West Jaguars (25-5)! The Jags bottled up the middle defensively, used a deep bench and hit some key shots from the perimeter as they beat Cor Jesu 51-39. Paige Westbrook led the Jaguars with 17 points. The Jags, who have won 3 consecutive District Titles lost in Sectionals in 08, lost Quarterfinal game in 09 and now in 2010 advance to the Final Four. All this in the first 3 years of Coach Monica Tritz. IWA has beaten Ft Zumwalt West twice this year...is the 3rd time a charm for IWA or FZW ?? The 4th class 5 Girls team is also on a "return trip". Last year's runner-up, the Blue Springs Wildcats (25-3) beat Liberty 43-32 in the 3rd go-around for these two teams this year. The Bluejays had won both conference games over Blue Springs but a tight, relentless defense and marksmanship shooting from the free throw line (seems like I've said that about each winning team!) and a spread offense were the ingredients to this victory cake. The Wildcats sank 16 of 20 FT in the contest! Holding the Bluejays to just 32 points was the key according to Coach Mark Spigarelli!
In class 4 Boys Quarterfinal action between Bolivar and Republic, an unlikely hero was found. Both teams are led by their spectacular guards -- the Liberators' Preston Guiot and the Tigers' Kevin Stander (both of whom lived up to pre-game hype) but as the clock ticked down and the ball in Republic's Kevin Stander hands. All eyes focused there (as they should)! When Stander's shot bounced off the board, it was grabbed and "stuck back in" just a split-second prior to the buzzer by Josh Morrow and the Tigers won 54-52 !!
On Class 4 Girls, Webb City (28-1) opened up a huge 23-5 gap early in 2nd quarter due to their whole court pressure. The St James Tigers fought and fought. Finally, the Tigers cut the gap to 6 points but they couldn't quite bridge the entire gap as Webb City regained control of the game. The Lady Cardinals, looking to defend their state title, won 57-36. Both of these terrific Girls teams will be in th 2011 Prepcasts Elite Girls Shootout next January!
Another Class 4 program has made all kinds of noise at the state level this year. Notre Dame (Cape) is making sending their 4th team this year to the STATE Finals. ND, led by Jane Morrill on the inside and Allyson Bradshaw beat St Francis Borgia 59-51. Morrill and Bradshaw went 9 of 10 in the last 4:30 of the game from the line to lead the Bulldogs to the win.
St Francis Borgia wasn't completely shut out for the day though. The Boys team (29-0) is riding a 45 game win streak as they "chalked up another one" with a 64-51 win over Sikeston. Borgia will also be returning to defend its STATE title. By the way, the last Borgia loss was January 21, 2009 to Chaminade. You can still listen to that great game on www.prepcasts.com . Just go to archived games, use drop down box to January 2009, find game , sit back and enjoy. Going on now, Nathan Scheer led the way offensively for the Knghts. Talk about shooters... Borgia shot 23 of 37 from the field, including 6 of 14 from beyond the line and was only 12 of 19 from the line !
The only overtime of the day was the O'Hara (23-6) 60-58 win over Staley. Trailing by four points with only a minute remaining, Tying the game at 56 to send it into ovetime with two baskets was Hailey Houser. Cameron Randle and Alexandria Smith took over for the Celtics as they scored 11 of the 12 Celtic OT points. It's the first trip to STATE since 1989 for O'Hara.
The games this week will be the MSHSAA network. All these video streamed games will be FREE. Prepcasts announcers will be "manning" the mics so check it out on www.mshsaa.org.
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