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:
- Fayette (G) 52, Santa Fe 32
- Marceline (B) 50, New Franklin 32
- New Franklin (G) 52, Marceline 49
- Higginsville (B) 58, Glasgow 43
- Higginsville (G) 42, Glasgow 36
- Harrisburg (G) 50, California 48
- Otterville (B) 70, Higbee 35
- Otterville (G) 60, Higbee 18
