MONETT, Mo. — The Aurora Lady Houns earned their first district title in girls basketball since 2012 with a 48-38 win against the Seneca Indians in the Class 4 District 12 championship game on Saturday evening at E.E. Camp Gymnasium.
Aurora lived and nearly died by the 3-point shot with five trifectas in the second quarter turning a 15-8 deficit after one quarter into a 25-22 halftime lead before cooling off dramatically in the second half.
Fortunately for Aurora, both teams endured a scoring drought for a large portion of the third and the Houns entered the fourth quarter leading 34-28.
Kylee Cole and Makena Hall made 3-pointers early in the fourth to give Aurora a 40-33 lead.
Aurora’s shooting touch from the stripe came in handy in the fourth period, as they made eight of their nine free throw attempts down the stretch to deliver a knockout blow to the Indians.
Seneca’s outstanding sophomore guard Hazley Grotjohn scored almost seemingly at will in the first half, and she had 13 of the Indians’ 15 points in the first half and five of their seven in the second half to add up to 18 of Seneca’s first 22 points.
Grotjohn missed her second free throw right before halftime, but her putback before the buzzer gave Seneca the last three points of the first half after top-seeded Aurora scored 17 of the first 21 points of the second quarter.
Grotjohn started out the second half much like she had during the first with two baskets right out of the gate that had Seneca down one at 25-24 and 27-26.
Grotjohn would only make one more field goal the rest of the way, however, and finished her night with a game-high 24 points.
Seneca senior Parker Long finished her final high school game with seven points.
Grotjohn and Long combined for all 28 Seneca points after three quarters.
The Indians finish an injury-plagued season 12-16 overall and they only lose two seniors in Long and Daylin McKnight.
Cole led Aurora with 16 points, Ellie Creasey finished with 12 points, Jaelyn Ernest added 10 points, Hall had six points, and Payden Blevins scored four points.
Aurora, who defeated Seneca 63-24 at home back in December, won a proverbial dogfight Saturday to improve to 20-8 and win a district title for the first time in more than a decade.
The Houns could match their most wins in a season since 2009 when they play District 11 champion Ava (24-4) in the Class 4 sectionals on Monday at Gibson Arena on the campus of Missouri S&T in Rolla.
Ava defeated Rogersville 47-40 for a district title on Saturday and the Bears have only lost once in the 2023 calendar year with their first three losses this season in December against Class 5 West Plains (57-44) and Class 6 schools Nixa (53-33) and Ozark (42-32).
The Bears are ranked eighth in Class 4 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association.
The Bears and the Houns have no previous meetings listed on the MSHSAA website.
