Your online home for Joplin area sports coverage.

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

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.

Share:

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on pinterest
Pinterest
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Table of Contents

On Key

Related Posts