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Day: March 4, 2023

DISTRICT HOOPS: Perimeter shooting ignites Webb City past Bolivar in semifinals

Posted on by Lucas Davis

WEBB CITY, Mo. — After a lackluster offensive performance in the opening round on Thursday, second-seeded Webb City caught fire from beyond the arc early and continued its prowess from the perimeter to build an insurmountable lead on the way to a 55-34 win over third-seeded Bolivar in the Class 5 District 7 semifinals on Saturday inside the Cardinal Dome. 

The Cardinals (18-10) knocked down a set of 3-pointers in the first quarter and suffocated the Liberators (19-9) on defense to close the period with a double-digit lead. Webb City ultimately sank seven total triples in the half and allowed Bolivar just six points in the second quarter to lead 31-11 by the intermission. The Cardinals held the pace in the second half to advance to the district title game.

“I thought we came out a lot looser and more confident tonight than we did on Thursday,” Webb City coach Lance Robbins said. “I think that showed on the way we played on both ends of the floor. Obviously, making some shots early gave us a little bit of confidence. 

“I thought we moved the ball really well offensively. The ball didn’t stick and we were able to use our inside-outside game tonight and kids stepped up and made shots. 

Also, defensively, I thought we did a good job of defending them and holding them to one-and-dones early in the game. They only had 11 points (at halftime) and that is a very good basketball team that has won 19 games this year. I thought our defense was excellent.”

FAMILIAR FOE

Webb City matches up against top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Carl Junction (27-1), an all-too-familiar area and conference rival.

“It’s going to be a rivalry game,” Robbins said. “We are excited for the opportunity and I am sure they are excited for the opportunity. We’re just going to go out and play our game the best that we can play. At this point, both teams know each other well. There are no secrets really. We’re just going to go out and play as hard as we can play.”

GAME ACTION

After a back-and-forth start to the game, Webb City settled in on both ends of the floor and closed the first quarter on a 13-0 run to lead 17-5. The Cardinals knocked down three 3-pointers during the surge, two from Mia Robbins and another from Kirra Long, and used a pair of buckets from the low block by Sami Mancini to fill out the run.

“I think it makes a big difference for Sami,” Robbins said of the early makes from the perimeter. “We focus so much on getting her the ball. … It alleviates a little pressure off of her and makes it easier for her to do her job inside the paint. It’s a good inside-outside combination when we are able to make jumpers the way we did tonight.”

Just as important, Webb City held Bolivar off the scoreboard for the final five minutes of the opening quarter, holding the Liberators to 19 percent shooting for the entire period.

“Defense is something we count on every night,” Robbins said. “We feel like we are pretty solid defensively and when we guard like we did tonight, it just raises our game to another level.” 

The Liberators couldn’t extinguish the Cardinals’ hot touch from 3-point land in the second period.

Back to back treys from Malorie Stanley and Robbins gave Webb City a 23-8 advantage early in the quarter. Robbins buried two more 3-pointers in the second quarter, making all five of her 3-point attempts in the first half, to stake the Cardinals to a 20-point lead by the intermission.

“She has been solid for us all year long,” Coach Robbins said of his daughter, Mia. “She doesn’t always score a lot of points, but she handles the ball for us, rebounds for us and is leading us in steals. She does a lot of things for us. Tonight, the ball was finding her and she was able to step in and make some shots. She has been spending extra time in the gym the last month just working on her shot and I am glad, as a coach, to see that come to fruition tonight for her.”

With the lead in hand, Webb City gave the ball to Mancini in the second half and let her go to work. The 6-foot-5 forward scored the first two buckets of the second half for Webb City and didn’t slow down. She ultimately finished with 13 second-half points to help pace the Cardinals to victory down the stretch.

“It’s a nice luxury to have—to be able to throw it to somebody down there you know is either going to get fouled or score two points, or both,” Robbins said of Mancini’s play, particularly in the second half. “Our focus coming out of the half was, ‘We’re up 20, but they’re not just going to just roll over for us. We have to go out and finish the game.’ We wanted to start out by getting the ball down into Sami to make the point again to get her going offensively. I thought our girls did a good job of that. They did a good job of moving the ball around tonight and were very unselfish. They just want to win.”

STAT LEADERS

Webb City shot 48 percent as a team (22-46) and made 8-of-19 shots from 3-point range in the win. Mancini, who had a block on the defensive end, led the Cardinals with 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to finish with a double-double. Robbins finished with 15 points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal. Stanley had six points and one rebound, while Long finished with five points, three assists and four rebounds. Kate Brownfield closed with four points, four assists, five rebounds and a pair of steals.

Bolivar shot 31 percent from the field and turned it over 20 times in the loss. Shelby Larimer had nine points, while Cara Roweton finished with eight to lead the Liberators in scoring. Sidney Batten and Dailynn VanDeren each had five boards, with VanDeren adding five points and Batten scoring two and dishing three assists.

DISTRICT HOOPS: Nevada gets it done late in thrilling title game

Posted on by Jason Peake

PLEASANT HILL, Mo. — By making winning plays down the stretch, top-seeded Nevada edged third-seeded Clinton 46-45 in a thrilling championship game of the Class 4 District 13 tournament on Saturday afternoon at Pleasant Hill High School.

It’s Nevada’s first district championship in girls basketball since 2020.

The district title game was a nail-biter.

Nevada was up 18-14 at the end of the first quarter, but Clinton led 29-27 at halftime.

The Cardinals were clinging to a 35-34 lead at the end of the third period. 

The Tigers outscored the Cardinals 12-10 in the fourth quarter to get the win and advance.

Nevada coach Blake Howarth told SoMo Sports that senior guard Maddy Majors hit two clutch free throws with 24 seconds left in the game to give the Tigers a four-point cushion.

Clinton hit a 3-pointer with five seconds left and called a timeout with one second left. After the timeout, Nevada was able to inbound the ball and the clock expired.

Majors and Clara Swearingen scored 15 points apiece for Nevada, while Abbey Heathman added 12 points. Swearingen and Majors each hit a trio of 3-pointers, while Heathman made two treys.

Also for the Tigers, Katie Johnson and Kara Phillips contributed two points apiece.

Mercedez Brown scored 18 points for Clinton (23-6), while Skyte Wilson added 14.

Nevada (21-6) will meet St. Michael the Archangel (18-9) at 6 on Tuesday night in a sectional contest of the state tournament at William Jewell College.

St. Michael defeated Pembroke Hill 79-75 in overtime to win the District 14 title.

DISTRICT HOOPS: Carl Junction advances to title game with lopsided semifinal win

Posted on by Jason Peake

WEBB CITY, Mo. — The quest for an eighth straight district championship continues for the Carl Junction girls basketball team.

Top-seeded Carl Junction cruised to a convincing 68-37 victory over fourth-seeded Grandview on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the Class 5 District 7 tournament inside the Cardinal Dome.

“Our program has been able to be a part of nine straight district title games, so that’s a pretty good run,” Carl Junction coach Brad Shorter said. “That’s a testament to our kids and how hard they play. It feels good to get back to another district title game. Hopefully we can get our eighth in a row.”

Carl Junction (27-1) will meet second-seeded Webb City (18-10) in the district title game at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

“Hopefully we’ll come out and play hard on Tuesday night,” Shorter said. 

In the regular-season meeting, Carl Junction edged Webb City 56-53.

Ranked first in Class 5 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, Carl Junction is taking a 22-game winning streak into the title game.

 

GAME RECAP

In a clash between Bulldogs, Grandview stayed within striking distance early by hitting four 3-pointers in the opening frame. 

Carl Junction received hoops from Klohe Burk, Destiny Buerge and Kylie Scott and treys from Hali Shorter and Burk to take a 17-8 lead.

Grandview’s Lariah Tucker drilled a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the first period to keep her squad within six.

Buerge scored the first five points of the second quarter, a 3-pointer and a layup, to extend CJ’s advantage to 22-11.

Grandview buried back-to-back 3-pointers to remain close, but Carl Junction responded with a game-changing 10-0 burst.

During the surge, Destiny Buerge recorded a pair of hoops, DeShaye Buerge added a bucket of her own in the paint and Burk converted two attempts at the foul line to give CJ a 32-17 cushion.

Grandview made 1-of-2 free throws late in the first half, trimming Carl Junction’s lead to 14 at the break.

“They hit some deep 3s early in the game,” Shorter said of Grandview. “But we’re going to stay in our matchup zone and we’re going to do what we do. Sometimes we have to live with a few of those 3s. When they make them from that deep, you tip your hat. But I think we needed to do a little better job of boxing out because they got some offensive rebounds and second chances. We shouldn’t have allowed some of those offensive rebounds.”

Carl Junction put the game away by outscoring Grandview 18-10 in the third period. Destiny Buerge took over in the quarter, knocking down three treys and a pair of 2-pointers in a 13-point outburst that gave Carl Junction a comfortable 50-28 advantage.

“She got on a roll,” Shorter said of his senior standout. “And we’d talked about getting her in the post. She had a smaller guard on her, so we wanted to take advantage of that. We were able to take advantage of that mismatch.”

The district’s top seed took a commanding 55-28 lead with seven minutes left in the game after buckets from Buerge and Scott. 

Overall, Carl Junction outscored Grandview 18-9 in the fourth frame to account for the final score.

 

NAMES & NUMBERS 

Tasked with going up against Carl Junction’s suffocating zone defense, Grandview made just 13-of-54 field goal attempts (24 percent), including 6-for-20 from 3-point range.

Grandview’s Micah Kirkwood and Tucker scored nine points apiece.

Carl Junction connected on 25-of-48 field goal attempts (52 percent), including 8-of-20 from beyond the arc (40 percent).

The Bulldogs assisted on 18 of their 25 made shots.

“That’s pretty good,” Shorter said of the stat. “We’re moving the ball pretty well. We’re moving it well in transition, and at times, we’re moving the ball in our halfcourt sets. We have to get better at that.”

Destiny Buerge poured in 31 points on 12-of-19 shooting to lead Carl Junction. A Pittsburg State-signee, Buerge made four treys and also handed out five assists to go with five steals.

A 6-3 junior forward, Scott contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double. Scott also blocked three shots. 

Burk and DeShaye Buerge scored seven points apiece, Dezi Williams had four points and Jadyn Howard and Hali Shorter contributed three points apiece. Hali Shorter, a senior guard, handed out five assists. 

Carl Junction will attempt to capture a district title for the eighth straight season on Tuesday night.

NOTE: See a separate story on Webb City’s 55-34 win over Bolivar.

STATE HOOPS: Thomas Jefferson falls to St. Elizabeth in quarterfinals

Posted on by Lucas Davis

WARRENSBURG, Mo. — Thomas Jefferson fell into an early hole and was unable to recover in a 66-46 loss to St. Elizabeth in the Class 1 quarterfinal round on Friday.

St. Elizabeth (20-10) led by 11 after the first period and pushed its advantage to 19 by the intermission. Thomas Jefferson cut into the lead to start the fourth quarter before St. Elizabeth pulled away down the stretch. 

“We just got off to a terrible start,” Thomas Jefferson coach Chris Myers said to SoMo Sports. “Didn’t shoot the ball well and couldn’t get a stop on the defensive end. Hats off to St. Elizabeth for knocking down big shots on their end and forcing us into tough ones on our end.”

“I was proud of the boys for coming out in the third quarter and playing hard. It would have been easy to just roll over in that second half, but our kids didn’t. They came back out of the locker room and competed well in the second half.”

Thomas Jefferson ends the season with a 21-7 record and graduates seniors Jay Ball, Tyler Brouhard, Kip Atteberry, David Triplett, Tony Touma and Benjamin Carrol. 

“I told the boys that this game didn’t define us or our season,” Myers said. “We had a heck of a year, and I am very proud of each of them!”

Ball finished with a double-double, scoring 22 points and grabbing 12 rebounds to go along with three blocks. Brouhard had 19 points, including three 3-pointers, five steals, four rebounds and three assists. 

Jace Kesel had 21 to lead St. Elizabeth in scoring.

DISTRICT HOOPS: Joplin falls to No. 2 Nixa in the semifinals to end the season

Posted on by Lucas Davis

OZARK, Mo. — Missed opportunities in the first half put Joplin in a hole by the intermission too big to recover from as top-seeded and second-ranked Nixa ultimately pulled away for a 68-46 win in the Class 6 District 5 semifinals on Friday at Ozark High School.

“We were down nine at half, but just off the top of my head I know we missed eight points in layups and were three-of-nine (from the free-throw line),” Joplin coach Bronson Schaake said after the game. “Against a team like that, you can’t miss bunnies. We could have gone into halftime down two or three, and that could have made a world of difference. I think we lost two in the third quarter, and after that we were trying to scramble and you can’t against a team like that.”

Joplin finishes the season 17-10 and graduates seniors Terrance Gibson and Grayden Cravens.

“I thought we could have been a 20-win team easily,” Schaake said when asked to look back on the season as a whole. “There were four games throughout the year that we lost by a total of six points. That could have been a 21 or 22-win season. We are going to miss Terrance, obviously, but we got a lot of young guys that we threw out there who got a lot of experience this year. They definitely got better (as a team) throughout the year when they gelled. I thought the last month and a half that we were playing pretty good basketball. We need to have a great offseason to try and catch these teams out here like Kickapoo, Republic and Nixa.”

GAME ACTION

Joplin trailed by nine heading into the intermission, 33-24, but it wasn’t for a lack of opportunities. The Eagles missed seven free throws in the first half and failed to convert on several high-percentage looks in the paint during the first two periods of play.

“We should have finished better around the rim,” Schaake said of his team’s play in the first half. “I think we were thinking they were going to be more physical with us, but when we were getting to the rim and getting into the paint, I thought we were the stronger team. When you don’t finish on one end against a really good team they’ll make you pay for it. We were getting it where we wanted, we just couldn’t capitalize on it.”

Nixa built a 10-point lead in the first quarter after an 11-2 run fueled by the 3-ball. Devon Kemp knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, while Kael Combs added a long-range make to help NHS build a 20-10 lead with less than two minutes to play in the opening quarter.

Joplin closed the first with a floater and a free throw by All Wright before Whit Hafer pulled down an offensive rebound for a putback score to open the second period, with Wright adding a score from the low block with 7:10 on the clock to cut the deficit to one possession, 20-17.

Nixa ultimately pushed the advantage to nine heading into halftime after getting a third-chance putback score at the buzzer from Jackson Cantwell.

Nixa pushed its lead as high as 17 points in the third quarter after Noah Engleman and Corey Kemp scored inside on consecutive possessions before Kemp buried a 3-pointer to push the lead to 45-28 with 4:49 on the clock. 

Joplin trimmed the lead back down to 10 after back to back dunks from Gibson and Wright before an NBA-range 3-pointer from the wing by Wright made the score 45-35 with two minutes left, with JHS going into the fourth quarter down 11.

Nixa started the fourth quarter on a 7-2 run to extend its lead to 16 and paced Joplin to the final horn.

SCORING LEADERS

Combs led Nixa with 17 points, while Corey Kemp was right behind with 16. Devon Kemp and Josh Peters finished with nine each.

Wright led Joplin with 20 points, while Gibson finished with 10. Quin Renfro finished with nine points, while Hafer closed with seven.

UP NEXT

Undefeated Nixa (28-0) advances to take on Kickapoo (20-8) in the Class 6 District 5 title game scheduled for 6 p.m. on Monday.

DISTRICT HOOPS: Nevada falls to Barstow in title game

Posted on by Jason Peake

PLEASANT HILL, Mo. — Nevada’s boys basketball team dropped a 57-42 decision to Barstow in the championship game of the Class 4 District 13 tournament on Friday night at Pleasant Hill High School.

Nevada ends the season at 14-14.

The top-seeded Tigers trailed 19-5 at the end of the first quarter and 33-15 at halftime to the second-seeded Knights.

Barstow held a 46-30 advantage heading into the fourth quarter. The final frame was nearly even, but the Tigers were unable to overcome their deficit.

Jack Cheaney led Nevada with 19 points, while Brice Budd added 10 points and Cade Beshore had nine.

Nevada’s lone seniors are Beshore and Drew Beachler. 

Aidan Lawlor scored 19 points for Barstow (12-13).

DISTRICT HOOPS: Webb City boys fall in semifinals

Posted on by Jason Peake

BELTON, Mo. — Second-seeded Webb City suffered a season-ending 79-63 setback to third-seeded Ruskin on Friday night in a semifinal contest of the Class 5 District 7 boys basketball tournament at Belton High School.

After a close first half, Ruskin pulled away after intermission, as a lack of defensive stops and too many empty possessions were too much to overcome for the Cardinals.

Webb City ends the season with a record of 17-11.

Ruskin (19-8) meets fourth-seeded Belton (17-11) at 6 p.m. on Monday in the district title game.

Webb City took an early 9-6 lead after senior guard Joe Adams knocked down a 3-pointer, but Ruskin put together an 11-0 run to go up 17-9.

A hoop inside from Alex Martin and a trey from Barron Duda cut Webb City’s deficit to three before the Eagles scored just before the buzzer for a 19-14 lead at the end of the opening period.

Ruskin went up eight early in the second period, but the Cardinals used a 10-2 run to tie the game at 27. During the surge, Duda and Omari Jackson scored five points apiece.

The Eagles ended the first half on an 11-6 surge. Led by 19 first half points from Jaquan Smith, Ruskin held a 38-33 halftime advantage.

In a key swing of momentum, Ruskin began the second half on an 8-0 run to go up 46-33.

Webb City senior forward Trey Roets, in his first significant action of the season, scored five points off the bench before hoops from Eli Pace, Holton Keith and Martin kept the Cardinals within striking distance.

However, Ruskin led 56-46 at the end of the third period.

The Cardinals were unable to overcome the deficit in the fourth quarter. Ruskin held a 71-57 lead with just over two minutes to play en route to victory.

A junior guard, Duda paced Webb City with 15 points and eight rebounds. Martin and Roets added 11 points apiece in their outings. Pace and Jackson scored seven points apiece, while Adams and Keith added six points apiece. A sophomore, Pace handed out eight assists.

Webb City went 25-for-57 on field goals (44 percent), including 6-of-17 from beyond the arc.

Ruskin shot 52 percent for the game (29-of-56) and the Eagles made nine treys. Smith scored 28 and hit six 3-pointers for Ruskin.

Webb City’s seniors are Roets, Martin and Adams. Roets missed nearly all of the season due to a shoulder injury after starting as a junior. 

Tourney host Belton knocked off top-seeded Grandview 59-51 in Friday’s first semifinal. 

 

FULL STATS: Webb City HS (webbcitycardinals.com)

DISTRICT HOOPS: Seneca boys win first district title in a decade

Posted on by Jason Peake

MONETT, Mo. — The top-seeded Seneca Indians earned their first district title in boys basketball since 2013 with a 61-47 win against the second-seeded Aurora Houn’ Dawgs in the Class 4 District 12 championship game on Friday evening at E.E. Camp Gymnasium.

Seneca trailed just once early on at 5-3 and led by double-digits for the vast majority of the second half.

The Indians led 14-8 after one quarter, 32-21 at halftime after Morgan Vaughn was fouled with 0.3 seconds remaining before halftime and he made two free throws for their first double-digit lead, and 46-34 entering the fourth.

The Houns did their best to stay in the game with their 3-point shooting, scoring 15 of their 21 first-half points with five 3-point baskets and they made three more trifectas in the second half for eight 3-pointers overall and 24 of their 47 points on the night.

The Indians were not without their three-point plays either.

For example, Aurora seniors Daunte Floyd and Trandan Darnell cut the deficit to eight at 42-34 with a pair of made free throws by Floyd and a basket from Darnell.

That’s when Vaughn scored an old-fashioned three-point play and Gavyn Hoover split a pair of free throws for a return to a 12-point lead entering the fourth.

Seneca sophomore Zane Grotjohn hit a trifecta early in the fourth to extend the lead to 15 at 51-36 and the Indians would eventually grow their lead to as large as 19 in the fourth.

Seneca senior Cooper Long scored a game-high 18 points, and it’s only fitting the outstanding senior opened the scoring with a 3-point basket and closed out the clock and the district title victory with the ball in his hands.

Vaughn finished with 14 points, Blake Hurn 10, Grotjohn eight, Hoover seven, and Ethan Altic added four points, including a steal-and-score in the third that put Seneca ahead 39-22.

The Indians, now 17-11 overall, won a district title in Cort Hardy’s first season as head coach and they will face District 11 champion Rogersville (25-3) in the Class 4 sectionals at 7:45 p.m. on Monday at the Meyer Sports Center on the Southwest Baptist campus in Bolivar.

Rogersville defeated Hollister 53-40 on Friday for the Wildcats’ fifth district title in six seasons. The Wildcats, ranked seventh in Class 4 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, have won 11 straight games since a 52-47 loss Jan. 27 against Troy Buchanan.

Seneca’s district title in boys basketball joins the Indians’ previous district titles this school year in softball, volleyball, and football.

The Seneca girls have a chance to make it five district titles for the Indians this school year when they play the top-seeded Aurora girls Saturday in Monett.

Aurora senior Kelton Brown scored a team-high 15 points, and the Houns finish 10-18 overall.

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