Well, originally we were scheduled to play four games tonight, but to my understanding, it seems the MSHSAA dropped the hammer down on the two seventh-place games. As a result, only the two consolation finals will be played tonight, with the girls game at 6 p.m. and the boys game at 7:30 p.m.
Here’s my understanding of it, just from listening to Greg Schmidt talk on the radio as I drove home last night. It appears MSHSAA frowns upon tournament directors filling in JV teams JUST for the seventh-place game and no other game in the tournament. There have been a handful of tournaments where JV teams have played at the varsity level, but they played the whole tournament, not just one game. I’m not sure why this is suddenly an issue, since this format was acceptable last year, but now it seems like it’s putting more and more pressure on Slater athletic director Bob Gonzalez to find an eighth team to fill up the brackets. Take that for what it’s worth.
No. 6 Slater (G) vs. No. 4 Fayette (6 p.m. tip-off): This is the third time I’ve had to predict a Slater-Fayette tournament game and it’s really starting to get old. Slater has the home-court advantage and, as we saw against Higginsville, has the ability to go on a pretty big run. But if Fayette plays like it did yesterday, this should be no contest. I anticipate the Lady Falcons to pound the ball inside. The question is, who has a big game: Ellie Johnson, Hayleigh Brunkhorst or Caitlin Wells? It could be any one of them. Hopefully this is the last time these two teams play each other. Prediction: Fayette 54, Slater 43.
No. 6 Pilot Grove (B) vs. No. 4 Fayette (7:30 p.m. tip-off): I gotta admit, I was impressed to see Pilot Grove hang with Glasgow as long as it did the other night. I don’t see that happening tonight. Sweet Springs beat Pilot Grove, and Fayette beat Sweet Springs by about 30 points. So how many points does Bruce Marshall score tonight? I’m going to go with 35. I heard somewhere that he’s about 12 or 14 points away from becoming the all-time leading scorer in Fayette history. I guess I’ll need to verify that, because if it’s true, he’ll reach that mark tonight. Prediction: Fayette 74, Pilot Grove 53.
I’ve spent the past hour catching up on area conference standings and I’m missing just a few of tonight’s scores. That gave me enough time to cool down after I was burning up in Slater’s gym tonight. As promised, we saw three really good basketball games.
Fayette (G) 52, Santa Fe 32: Fayette should have scored at least 60 points in this one, but they haven’t been able to play a full four quarters, other than the Marceline game. The Lady Falcons got off to a fast 6-0 start and never trailed in this one. Ellie Johnson bounced back, as predicted, and made a huge impact in the first half. Then, in the final minute of the first half, Fayette decided to start shooting threes, and they fell often. That momentum carried over into the second half and Fayette led by as many as 29 points. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a game where Fayette was on the upside of a running clock, and the only time they’ve been able to do that was in last year’s seventh-place game against Slater’s JV. Johnson had 16 points and Samantha Reed had 15 points — did I call that or what? — to lead the way. Now Fayette gets to play Slater for the fifth time this season. These two teams might be a little too familiar with each other. Fayette holds the season series lead at 3-1, but that one loss was on Slater’s court.
Higginsville (B) 58, Glasgow 43: Well, I got the prediction right, but I was wrong on the final score. I was really impressed Glasgow held Higginsville under 60 points, especially after being down 20-11 at the end of the first quarter. Dillon Yung was on pace to have a pretty good night, but the Huskers forced other players to take the ball. Yung scored most of his points by catching the ball behind the basket and doing a nice little move for up-and-under layups. But Higginsville was just too good in this one. They had more size, they were just a bit quicker and they hit more shots. I look for both the third-place and championship games on the boys’ side to be really good on Saturday.
Higginsville (G) 42, Glasgow 36: Imagine the Missouri Tigers playing against Duke without Ricardo Ratliffe. I think that’s a fair comparison to what Glasgow had to deal with tonight. I underestimated the seriousness Nikki Fuemmeler’s ankle injury and she did not dress for Glasgow tonight. In addition, Lindsey Kopp was feeling ill today and also didn’t play. Glasgow normally dresses 11 players, but typically just eight of them play varsity. As a result, the Lady Jackets were already down to six role players — Alex Davis, Peyton Davis, Trisha McMillan, Erin Reynolds, Carley Brucks and Abby Thompson — before the game even started. Foul trouble became an early issue, with both Peyton Davis and Trisha McMillan picking up two fouls in the first quarter. Erin Reynolds picked up her third foul in the second quarter, so fouls quickly became an issue. And yet, Glasgow still had the lead against a good Class 3 program. Higginsville led 15-14 at halftime, but McMillan hit a 3-pointer at the start of the third quarter and Alex Davis scored on a coast-to-coast layup to give Glasgow a 19-15 lead early in the second half. But before long, the exhaustion caught up with Glasgow and foul trouble started taking its toll. Reynolds fouled out with 2:55 to play in the fourth and Alex Davis fouled out a bit later. As a result, Courtney Neville had to come in. She played the final two seconds of the first half and the final 1:21 of the second half, while Blakeley Fuemmeler played the final two minutes of the first half. Aside from that, the other six players logged every minute. Higginsville outrebounded Glasgow 39-28, but the turnovers are what kept Glasgow in the game. Their pressure forced 34 Higginsville turnovers and they only committed half that at 17.
This was probably the gutsiest performance I’ve ever seen in a high school girls basketball game. The fact that Higginsville never led by more than four points until the 2:55 mark of the fourth quarter shows the tenacity of this team. The person who probably was the most upset after the game was Nikki Fuemmeler. She felt hopeless just sitting there on the bench the entire game, knowing had she been able to play, Glasgow probably would have won by 10 or 15 points. I’ve been there before. It’s one of the worst feelings you’ll ever have. This team definitely wanted to go out there and show it was worthy of being state ranked, but I think everyone agrees with me that Glasgow would rather have Fuemmeler healthy in late February and not risk a more serious injury now. I believe Carley Brucks and Peyton Davis played the entire 32 minutes, but I could be wrong.
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In other games, the Harrisburg girls pulled off a huge road win tonight. Haley Heuer scored the winning basket with three seconds to play, giving the Lady Bulldogs a 50-48 win at California. Harrisburg played without Paige Heibel, who reinjured her ankle on Tuesday. She’s still listed as questionable for Sunday’s marquee matchup against Marion County in the MFA Oil Shootout. Chelsey Kroese led Harrisburg with 24 points.
Here’s the rest of tonight’s full scoreboard for area teams:
Well, we’re past the halfway point of the Slater Wildcat Classic and after last night’s games, I can honestly tell you it’s only going to get better. Here’s what I think will happen tonight.
No. 7 Santa Fe (G) vs. No. 4 Fayette (5 p.m. tip-off): I didn’t see Santa Fe play on Monday, but I heard they kept the score close against Sacred Heart until the final minutes. I’m still trying to figure out how this team lost to Carrollton by 20 points, while Slater won over the Lady Trojans fairly easily. By far, Tuesday was probably one of the worst games I’ve seen Fayette play all year and they’re in the middle of a three-game losing skid. This Santa Fe team is no pushover and I’d like to think that the Lady Falcons will be able to bounce back and get to another consolation final in this tournament. Samantha Reed needs to score 15 points and Ellie Johnson, who has scored 10 points over the past two games, needs to have another 20-point night. She’s due for one. Prediction: Fayette 48, Santa Fe 43.
No. 3 Glasgow (B) vs. No. 2 Higginsville (6:30 p.m. tip-off): I like Glasgow against most Class 1 and 2 teams, but Higginsville’s quickness reminds me of Fayette from a year ago, perhaps even faster. For Glasgow to contend, Dillon Yung would need to have another 25-30 point game, and most outside shots are going to have to fall. Usually in tough matchups, Glasgow does its best to keep the game to a low score — see the first game against Cairo and the Salisbury game. But not many teams can hold Higginsville under 60 points. I looked up the last time I picked against Glasgow in a tournament game. It was almost a year ago today. Prediction: Higginsville 72, Glasgow 60.
No. 3 Glasgow (G) vs. No. 2 Higginsville (8 p.m. tip-off): Ever since the seedings meeting two weeks ago, Mick Cropp said he likes Glasgow’s chances of reaching the championship game in this tournament, and I agree with him. Higginsville has won some respectable games this season, but when I see they only won by six points at Brookfield — a team Marceline annihilated, and Glasgow beat Marceline on the road — I’m not so sure how well the Lady Huskers will hold up against Glasgow’s pressure tonight. Nikki Fuemmeler sat out most of Tuesday’s game because of an ankle injury, but I think she’ll be back tonight. She’ll have to be for Glasgow to win, and she’ll need to have a big game. Can the Lady Jackets get to their third championship game this season? I think so. Prediction: Glasgow 57, Higginsville 50.
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Also on tap tonight will be the Harrisburg girls at California. For those who want to tune in to a great matchup, I believe it will be on the radio at 1420 AM/KRLL at around 7:15 p.m.
Both the Higbee boys and girls will play in Otterville tonight at the CCAA Tournament. The boys lost a close one to Bunceton last night and will play Otterville tonight. The girls won by forfeit over Bunceton’s JV last night and also play Otterville in pool play tonight as well.
Both New Franklin teams are back in action tonight at the Keytesville Tournament, and both will take on Marceline. The boys play at 6 p.m. and the girls follow at 7:30 p.m.
This is the second year I’ve attended the MFA Oil Shootout press conference and I’m kicking myself for not going the first year I was here. Fourteen teams attended yesterday’s press conference at the MFA Oil headquarters in Columbia.
You can click here to listen to some of the interviews from local coaches, courtesy of Eric Messersmith at KRES radio. Above is video featuring Harrisburg head coach Dan Bachmeier and Marion County head coach Mike Johnson. That game alone is worth attending Mizzou Arena on Sunday.
It’s not often we get to see two No. 1s face each other this year, but for the third time this season, Harrisburg will play a No. 1 ranked team (Both Hallsville and Hermann have been ranked No. 1 in Class 3 this season). I believe this is also the first girls game to be played in the MFA Oil Shootout and the committee did a pretty spectacular job producing a quality lineup, which features four No. 1 teams in the state.
First, let’s talk about the Harrisburg-Marion County matchup. With Chelsey Kroese scoring in the 20s consistently, I like Harrisburg’s offense to put up some points in this game. Paige Heibel will miss tonight’s game against California with a sprained ankle, the same one she injured in the sectional game against Sacred Heart last March. She is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game. If she can’t play, Sonja Eaves, Tina Chickering and Kassi Blakemore are going to have to shoot some more 3-pointers.
Marion County’s lineup is very impressive for a Class 1 school. The Lady Mustangs are led by Jessica Redd, who has already signed to play at Truman State next year. She’s a 6-foot-1 forward and three-time All-State player, so I look for either Kroese or Haley Heuer to guard her. Marion County is undefeated this season and hasn’t lost in at least 45 games, but I’d have to go look it up. They’re obviously ranked No. 1 in Class 1 and I wouldn’t be surprised if they bring 750-plus fans from Philadelphia (Missouri, that is).
Another local team, the Salisbury boys, are also playing in this year’s Shootout. They’ll face Macon, who is having a down season with a 4-9 record. I don’t anticipate this being too close of a game, although I can’t say I’ve seen Macon play this year. But I have seen Salisbury play a few times and they’re the real deal. I’d put money on them returning to Mizzou Arena in March.
Above is a video of Macon head coach Doug Hawkins and Salisbury head coach Kenny Wyatt at yesterday’s press conference.
I redeemed myself on my picks and went 3-for-3 tonight, although I can’t say it was very difficult. Picking tomorrow’s games is going to be tougher. Here’s what happened tonight.
Fayette (B) 72, Slater 35: Fayette forced 13 Slater turnovers in the first quarter and that was all she wrote. Much like the last time Fayette played Slater, the Falcons attacked with an aerial assault behind the 3-point line and made 13 of them tonight, five of them by Bruce Marshall, who seemed to only shoot from the outside tonight. He finished with a game-high 26 points, while Rashad Jackman matched his season-high of 16 points with four 3-pointers of his own. Krey Cowans also had 14 points and made two 3-pointers. Slater never really stood a chance in this game, but got nine points from Tyler Buglovsky and eight points from Nik Ferri. Looking at Slater’s roster, all eight players are sophomores, so what you’ll see Friday evening against Higginsville’s JV is going to be two JV squads matched up against each other based on age. The Fayette boys will play Pilot Grove for consolation Friday night as well.
Sacred Heart (G) 58, Pilot Grove 48: This game could be a potential district matchup down the line, but I think after watching tonight’s game, it might be a semifinal game rather than a championship game. This was the first time I saw Sacred Heart play this year and I gotta say, they crash the boards hard. Erica Stone reminds me of Chelsey Kroese, but her talent level is quite there yet. She’s capable of driving the lane aggressively and handles the ball well for her height, which will be great for this team come postseason time. I didn’t keep track of points, but I’m sure she led her team in scoring. Sacred Heart advances to the Slater Wildcat Classic championship game for a sixth consecutive season and will be looking for its fourth title in six years. I also feel like this team will win its district again in March, but it will be tough with teams like Windsor, Tipton and of course, Pilot Grove.
Sacred Heart (B) 79, Santa Fe 67: This was the game most of the fans came to see tonight, and early on, it didn’t look like much of a game. Sacred Heart had 28 points at the end of the first quarter and Stefan Cox had five 3-pointers in the first half. Santa Fe was down by as many as 18 points in the third quarter, but came within four points of the lead early in the fourth quarter. I wish these two teams were in the same district, because I’m pretty sure they’d meet in the championship game. Instead, it doesn’t appear like any team will contest Sacred Heart for a district title and Santa Fe has to battle it out with Sweet Springs and Wellington-Napoleon. The Sacred Heart boys have been bridesmaids in this tournament championship game the past three years, but they’re in the driver’s seat with a shot at winning this title for the first time since 2004.
Well, I’m heading to Slater in a few minutes, so let’s see if I can go 3-for-3 on picks today.
No. 7 Slater (B) vs. No. 4 Fayette (5 p.m. tip-off): Less than 24 hours after a tough loss to Santa Fe, Fayette has to bounce right back and hope to get to Friday’s consolation final. While the Falcons have handled Slater handily both times, don’t dismiss Slater too quickly. If players like Nik Ferri catch a hot streak, then the Wildcats will stay close. But as we’ve seen before, Bruce Marshall should have a hayday with Slater. The first time out he had 45 points and most recently he scored 33 against Slater. I’ll pick something in the middle, say 40 points. It wouldn’t surprise me. Prediction: Fayette 78, Slater 36.
No. 5 Pilot Grove (G) vs. No. 1 Sacred Heart (6:30 p.m. tip-off): Pilot Grove didn’t play very last night and still won. The Lady Tigers will need to play their best game of the season to win again tonight, but Sacred Heart has too much height and quickness. Erica Stone should have another 20-point night and the Lady Gremlins should return to the championship game. Prediction: Sacred Heart 59, Pilot Grove 38.
No. 5 Santa Fe (B) vs. No. 1 Sacred Heart (8 p.m. tip-off): These two teams met last month in the State Fair Holiday Shootout and Sacred Heart won by 10 points, without Caleb Morrison. They’ll have him back tonight and the Gremlins are looking to continue their unbeaten streak. I’m debating if I want to stick around for this game or not. It should be a pretty good one, but Sacred Heart will get into the championship. And they won’t have to play Fayette this year. Prediction: Sacred Heart 69, Santa Fe 52.
This feels like it’s two weeks overdue, but the Glasgow girls finally cracked the Class 1 state rankings released yesterday by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association and mosports.com.
The Glasgow girls come in ranked at No. 10 with a 13-2 record after last night’s win against Slater. They are now one of the three area coverage teams to be ranked in the state polls. The Harrisburg girls maintained their No. 1 ranking in the Class 2 polls, while the Glasgow boys are still state-ranked at No. 5 in Class 1, despite losing to Class 2 No. 1 Salisbury at home last week.
I was somewhat shocked Glasgow didn’t jump into the state rankings after winning the Marceline Hoops Tournament, especially since Milan was ranked in Class 2 (or at least was ranked last week). But if you look at the Class 1 teams, all of them boast impressive records. I’m also rather surprised the Otterville girls aren’t ranked either. They have a 15-1 record and their only loss was 43-42 to Windsor in December. The Lady Eagles beat Sacred Heart last week 48-40.
Click here for the boys’ state rankings and click here for the girls’ state rankings.
So I was a bit busier on press day than I thought I would be, and that explains why I’m just now returning to my blog. Don’t worry, I’ll catch you up to date on the past 36 hours of basketball.
MONDAY
Sacred Heart (G) 55, Santa Fe 33: The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for Santa Fe and Sacred Heart pulled away late to win this game. Erica Stone led Sacred Heart with 20 points, making 9-of-11 free throws, and Lexi Smith had 10 points for Santa Fe before fouling out.
Sacred Heart (B) 76, Slater 39: Sacred Heart blew this one away very early, leading 20-4 at the end of the first quarter. It sounded like Nik Ferri hit everything he shot, but with only 12 points, that’s not going to get any team past the No. 2 team in Class 2.
Higginsville (G) 52, Slater 29: Slater actually held a 17-9 lead, but it didn’t last past the second quarter. Mary Anne Boston had 14 points and head coach Bob Gonzalez is still looking for win No. 350, according to Greg Schmidt on KMMO.
Higginsville (B) 74, Pilot Grove 29: I really wouldn’t be surprised to see Higginsville win this thing. I also wonder if this is the worst loss Pilot Grove has endured under Rick Grunden. Higginsville ran wild in this one. Best of luck to Glasgow on slowing this team down Thursday.
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Now I realize I didn’t make predictions ahead of time for Tuesday’s games, but here’s how I would have picked them. And yes, they make me sound like a homer.
Fayette girls over Pilot Grove
Glasgow boys over Pilot Grove
Glasgow girls over Slater
Fayette boys over Santa Fe
Pilot Grove (G) 43, Fayette 40: I think Fayette only struggles in Slater’s gym this season. Head coach Mike James said December’s loss at Slater was going to haunt him for the rest of the season. Well, tonight’s loss to Pilot Grove is going to haunt him as well. I sat behind the Fayette bench and I’m glad I did, because listening in on their timeouts helped make sense of this game. Every time James drew up a play during the break, his players didn’t run them. All they had to do was get the ball inside and this game would have been a 15-point win for Fayette. Instead, Fayette trailed 23-16 halftime. The Lady Falcons had a 13-0 run in the third quarter to take a 31-27 lead, but they just didn’t shut the door on Pilot Grove. Samantha Reed had 11 points and Keonna Bush added eight points. Now Fayette is hoping to play Slater for a fifth time this season. More on that in a minute.
Glasgow (B) 57, Pilot Grove 41: For about 12 minutes, I was nervous that Glasgow wasn’t going to pull this one out. Pilot Grove played, what I consider, its best basketball since the New Franklin game in the opening round of the New Franklin Tournament. All Mick Cropp had to do was tell his posts — Dillon Yung, Reid Littrell and Austin Stockhorst — to rebound during the break between the first and second quarters. They listened to him. Yung finished the game with 16 rebounds by my count and Littrell had nine. They also combined to score 33 points. As I said yesterday, there’s a good chance Pilot Grove will go 0-3 in this week’s tournament. More on that in a minute as well.
Glasgow (G) 52, Slater 37: Nikki Fuemmeler looked like she was going to own Slater tonight, but at the 3:11 mark of the first quarter, she suffered an ankle injury and came out of the game. She played a few minutes at the start of the second quarter, but the ankle was obviously nagging her, so head coach Molly Monnig took her out for the rest of the game. Someone was going to have to step up and make an impact in Fuemmeler’s absence. That player was Abby Thompson, who scored a career-high 19 points tonight and knocked down five 3-pointers. When Slater closed within one point of the lead in the second quarter, Thompson began to make it rain inside the gym and hit every long-range shot she attempted, or so it seemed to me. Like the Pilot Grove boys, we may see Slater lose three times this week as the No. 6 seed. And if Fayette beats Santa Fe on Thursday, it will be the fifth time this season the two teams play this year. Is that a record?
Santa Fe (B) 57, Fayette 45: Although Bruce Marshall scored 25 points, this was an “off night” for him in my books. He got a lot of his points by getting to the free-throw line, but he didn’t hit the mid-range jumpers he usually hit, mainly because Santa Fe had a lot of height and it was all on Marshall. However, 99.9 percent of high school basketball players would love to consider scoring 25 points as an “off night.” Both teams committed way too many turnovers, but Santa Fe took advantage of more of Fayette mistakes. Fayette trailed by 10 points in the first quarter, cut the deficit to 26-23 at halftime, then Santa Fe started the second half on a 10-0 run. Fayette came within five points of the lead in the fourth quarter, but as they trailed, I couldn’t believe how many 3-point attempts the Falcons passed up tonight. I understand getting the ball inside to Marshall, but as good of a long-range shooter as he is, I couldn’t understand why he didn’t pop out and knock down a couple of threes to get his team back in the game. I know, hindsight is 20/20, but when you’re trying to get back into a game in the fourth quarter, you can’t have 25-second possessions and then turn over the ball.
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There were other area teams in action tonight. Here’s the area scoreboard, which includes every school but Higbee, who is off until Wednesday in the CCAA Tournament:
Santa Fe (B) 57, Fayette 45
Pilot Grove (G) 43, Fayette 40
New Franklin (B) 56, Bucklin 29
New Franklin (G) 57 , Bucklin 16
Glasgow (B) 57, Pilot Grove 41
Glasgow (G) 52, Slater 37
Harrisburg (B) 57, Centralia 55 (huge win to bounce back from Friday’s 2OT loss)
Harrisburg (G) 47, Centralia 28
Well, that’s it for tonight. I’ll be in Columbia during the day tomorrow for the MFA Oil Shootout press conference, which will include Harrisburg girls head coach Dan Bachmeier and a couple of his star players. I should get video or audio clips from the press conference and I promise, there will be predictions tomorrow afternoon for Day Three of the Slater Wildcat Classic, which will include the Fayette boys game at 5 p.m. against Slater.
For the first time, I will not be driving over to Slater tonight to watch the first games of the Slater Wildcat Classic. Instead, I’ll tune in on KMMO for tonight’s broadcast.
Why is that? Somehow, neither Fayette nor Glasgow play tonight. But sure enough, the four teams play in four different games tomorrow, so I’ll be really busy. At least I get the night off.
And to preface this, I don’t anticipate any of the four games tonight being close. They’ll play the two No.1-7 games and the two No. 2-6 games tonight, but the action will be much better Tuesday. I guarantee it.
No. 7 Santa Fe (G) vs. No. 1 Sacred Heart (4:30 p.m. tip-off): Yes, Santa Fe has a winning record, or at least it did the last time I checked. Not too sure how I feel about Sacred Heart as the No. 1 seed after losing to Otterville, although Otterville is two points away from being undefeated, but the Lady Gremlins should have no problems getting to the semifinals tonight. Prediction: Sacred Heart 67, Santa Fe 42.
No. 7 Slater (B) vs. No. 1 Sacred Heart (6 p.m. tip-off): Sacred Heart is undefeated and the No. 2 team in Class 2. Slater, well, the Wildcats were beaten by No. 1 Salisbury 73-27 on Friday and lost to No. 5 Sturgeon 60-39 in the first round of the New Franklin Tournament. I feel bad saying this, but I’m not sure Slater will win a game this week. Prediction: Sacred Heart 84, Slater 39.
No. 6 Slater (G) vs. No. 2 Higginsville (7:30 p.m. tip-off): We might find out tonight if we’re going to have a new girls’ champion this year. Slater has to get past Higginsville and Glasgow to even have a shot at a three-peat. I haven’t seen anything from Higginsville this year, but I think Slater is best fit for the consolation final instead this year. Prediction: Higginsville 57, Slater 36.
No. 6 Pilot Grove (B) vs. No. 2 Higginsville (9 p.m. tip-off): If it weren’t for a two-point loss to Grain Valley, Higginsville would also be undefeated heading into this tournament. Pilot Grove has fallen to the loser’s bracket side of this tournament the past two years I’ve been here, and to be honest, it’s going to be extremely difficult for the Tigers to pick up a win this week. Higginsville I’m sure has too much height and speed for Pilot Grove to contend in this one. Prediction: Higginsville 68, Pilot Grove 52.
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The Keytesville Tournament is also taking place this week, but both New Franklin teams do not play until tomorrow. Check back later on tonight and hopefully I will have a recap of tonight’s action from Slater. If not, I’ll be back on here tomorrow afternoon for Day Two predictions.
I think I’m more impressed with the Harrisburg girls each time they take the court, and tonight was the best I’ve seen them play all season.
Program cover from the Gary Filbert Classic. Participating schools include Sturgeon, Scott County Central, Rock Bridge, Whitfield, Mexico, Harrisburg and Savannah.
They scored only 28 points in the first half, but then the Lady Bulldogs exploded for 51 second-half points to beat Class 4 Mexico 79-59 in the third game of the inaugural Gary Filbert Classic.
Everything was nearly perfect in the second half. Harrisburg rebounded better, players attacked the basket better and some of the passes they dished out tonight made me wonder if I was watching a boys game instead. I’ve never seen a girls team pass as well as they did, threading the needle on a couple of them through traffic to get some better shot attempts.
Tonight’s game alone would get Chelsey Kroese her third consecutive All-State honors. She reached the 1,000-point milestone Thursday night against Hallsville, but tonight she set another career-high with 29 points. I wish I had kept track of her steals and assists, because her box score line would drop some jaws.
During the first and third quarters, I sat next to the scorer’s table, which means I was also sitting next to a few Mexico fans. At halftime, the official scorer was talking to the KRCG cameraman, who came by to check the point totals. She noted the top scorers for Mexico, but then went on to say, “This girl is killing us,” pointing at Kroese’s 15 points. It kind of reminded me of the line from the movie “Space Jam” right before the aliens stole Charles Barkley’s talent (for those unfamiliar with the movie, sorry, I couldn’t find a clip on YouTube).
Unlike the movie, Kroese still had her talent in the second half. Her point total continued to rise, but once she hit 27 points, she began to pass off to her teammates. I had her down for at least six assists and late in the fourth quarter, she appeared to be content with tying her career-high. With Harrisburg up by 20-plus points, head coach Dan Bachmeier took out his star senior, for what we thought would be the last time of the game.
We were wrong.
Here's a picture of Chelsey Kroese scoring the final basket for her career-high 29 points against Mexico. Kroese passed the 1,000-point plateau in Thursday's win against Hallsville and has 1,050 points as of Saturday night. She has a pretty good chance of getting to 1,250 before the end of the season.
Mexico went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 70-55 and Bachmeier inserted Kroese back into the lineup. Moments later, she drove the lane to score points No. 28 and 29, and then came out for one final time.
As noted in the first question of my postgame interview with Bachmeier, the second half was the most unselfish basketball I’ve ever seen at the high school level. It wasn’t just Kroese. It was a complete team effort, whether it was Haley Heuer dishing off to Kroese, Tina Chickering passing ahead to Kroese, Kroese finding Rachael Douglas for an open look or Kroese drawing a double team, then passing to a wide open Chickering along the baseline. If Harrisburg plays like this in the playoffs, the sky is the limit for the Lady Bulldogs.
As for statistics, Heuer was the only other player to reach double figures in scoring with 14 points. She also pulled down six rebounds. Kassi Blakemore and Paige Heibel each had nine points and Chickering added eight points.
Harrisburg improves to 13-1 this season and with the loss, Mexico falls to 10-5. Harrisburg hosts Centralia on Tuesday and travels to California on Thursday.
I arrived well ahead of the Harrisburg girls game to catch a glimpse of the Scott County Central boys game against Sturgeon. To my surprise, Sturgeon had a great second half and pulled away for a 73-62 win over the back-to-back-to-back Class 1 state champions.
Sturgeon rebounded better in the second half and Lane Arends had a huge game, scoring 23 points. Spencer Kelly also had 21 points.
To be honest, I was rather disappointed with the lack of attendance for this game. I understand SCC might bring a total of 12 fans because it’s a four-hour drive, and I knew Sturgeon would bring its typical amount of fans. But I figured there would be several more curious fans like myself, who wanted to see a Scott County team that we usually only get to see at Mizzou Arena in March.
This was a tremendous win for Sturgeon, but I’m going to play devil’s advocate here for a minute. Scott County Central was coming off a championship win over Scott City on Friday night in Chaffee, then had to wake up bright and early this morning and make the long trip to Mexico. I’m not one for making excuses, but I wonder why this game couldn’t have been played later in the day. With SCC on full rest, are the Braves a better team than Sturgeon? We’ll never know.
Then again, Sturgeon also played at Brunswick last night, although their drive today was much shorter. Excuses aside, I do know one thing: Sturgeon was the better team today, and there’s a chance the Bulldogs could run the table for the rest of the regular season.
Well, I’m out for the rest of the weekend. Check back on Monday for my Day One predictions for the 31st Annual Slater Wildcat Classic.
