The College Heights Christian girls outscored their rival McAuley Catholic 31-14 in the first and third quarters on their way to a 47-28 win on Friday evening at the College Heights Athletic Complex on Senior Night.
With McAuley Catholic’s defense keyed on slowing down or stopping College Heights sophomore and leading scorer Libby Fanning, open perimeter shots became available for College Heights’ guards.
Ava Lett stepped up to the challenge and knocked down four 3-point shots Friday on her way to a team-high 14 points, including five points during a critical 12-0 run in the fourth quarter that extended the Cougars’ lead from 35-25 to 47-25.
“We’ve got a lot of kids that can score,” College Heights coach John Blankenship said. “Ava Lett stepped up and had a great game tonight, shot well, and Maddy Colin. We had three kids around double-digits. Our scoring was balanced tonight, which makes us a better team than if Libby’s scoring 25 points and the rest have four, six or eight. I like that balance more.”
Fanning recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, Colin added eight points, senior Addie Lawrence finished with five points, seniors Jayli Johnson and Lauren Ukena each added four points, and Kinley Marsh’s free throw resulted in her lone point scored.
McAuley Catholic played nearly even with College Heights in the middle quarters Friday and entered the fourth down 35-23 after Lett hit one of her four trifectas late in the third.
“We came out flat in the first half,” Blankenship said. “Coach (Mike) Howard does a great job with his kids. We’ve played so often. He knows us, who to guard, and what to expect. We try and throw in a few wrinkles here and there and had some success with a little bit of a variation we had on their zone offense against their extended 2-3 (zone).
“We had to make some adjustments at halftime and talked about our energy and our passion. We picked that up. We were not very intense with our defense in the first half, so the kids responded well and had a strong second half.”
The Cougars honored their seniors before the boys varsity game.
“Jayli, Lauren, and Addie, they’ve been so committed to our program over the four years,” Blankenship said. “They’ve made our team and our program so much better. One of the goals we always have for our seniors is to make the program better.
“Defensively, Lauren and Jayli are just tenacious and we’re able to extend our pressure with their speed. They read in the passing lanes really well and Lauren had several steals and layups tonight.
“Addie, she’s a great shooter. She struggled from the floor a little bit tonight, but she’s having so much trouble with her knee and that makes it hard. She’s capable of knocking down four to six threes a night, which makes the defense have to get out and guard her and that opens up our interior with Libby a little bit more.
“Our seniors are key in what we’re doing and they’ll certainly be missed when they graduate.”
College Heights improved to 14-10 overall and 5-0 in the Ozark 7 Conference, and the Cougars have a big one Tuesday on the road against eighth-ranked in Class 1 and fellow unbeaten in Ozark 7 play Golden City (20-4 overall, 4-0 Ozark 7).
Kloee Williamson led McAuley Catholic with 14 points, the trio of Lily Black, Avery Gardner and Vanessa Diaz each produced four points, and Kendall Ramsey added two points.
The Warriors dropped to 8-16 overall and 3-2 Ozark 7, and they return home Tuesday one last time this season to face Bronaugh.
College Heights boys 55, McAuley Catholic 31
College Heights scored eight of the game’s first 10 points, McAuley Catholic answered with a 13-0 run to go ahead 15-8 late in the first quarter, and College Heights entered halftime with a 35-21 lead after turning a 19-16 deficit upside down with a 19-2 stretch to end the first half.
The Cougars, in fact, earned a 39-12 advantage after McAuley’s last lead at 19-16.
“We picked it up on defense and we did a little better job taking care of the ball,” College Heights coach Eric Johnson said. “Our offense got some more looks and we got some steals off the press too that got us some easy baskets early. We weren’t too happy with our start because we had three or four turnovers and they hit some open shots.”
Caleb Quade scored a game-high 19 points, including 15 of them in the first half to spark the Cougars, and seniors Curtis Davenport and Bo Sitton each finished in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Davenport scored nine of his points during that 19-2 run before the half.
Jayce Walker and senior Noah Hipple each contributed five points, Colsen Dickens scored three points, and senior Ben Thomas reached the scoring column with a made free throw.
College Heights’ four seniors, who have been a part of two district championships during their high school career so far, were honored before the game Friday.
“They’ve been with us all four years and Curtis has been a four-year starter,” Johnson said. “Ben, Bo, and Noah, they’ve been with the varsity last two years and they’ve stepped up this year and filled their roles. All four are great kids, and it’s been real enjoyable coaching them.”
College Heights improved to 19-5 overall and 5-0 Ozark 7, and the Cougars have one more conference bout Tuesday on the road against Golden City (16-8 overall).
Noah Black led McAuley Catholic with nine points, Bradley Wagner added seven, Rocco Bazzano-Joseph hit a pair of threes for his six points, Jack Jones and Joe Staton each had four points, and Kable Reichardt added one point.
The Warriors fell to 6-18 overall and 1-4 Ozark 7, and they return home Tuesday for their last home game of the season with a clash against Bronaugh.
