District Hoops Are Underway!!
The postseason has started for high school basketball. Bowling Green teams are competing in Class 3 District 8 at Montgomery County while Clopton, Louisiana, Silex and Van-Far teams are in the Class 2 District 5 tournament at Elsberry. Above, the top-seeded Clopton Lady Hawks get pumped before their opening round game against (8) Louisiana on Saturday. Find district coverage on pages 6-11 of this week’s edition.
Lady Cats Beat Christian To Face Hermann In District Semifinal
The (3) Bowling Green Lady Cats made easy work of (6) Christian in the opening round of the Class 3 District 8 tournament on Saturday with the 40-23 victory.
The Lady Cats advance to face (2) Hermann in the semifinal Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The game will be featured on TribCast.
The opening round game started sluggishly. Gabi Deters sank the first basket of the game at the halfway mark of the first period. With buckets from Olivia Niemeyer and Grace Twellman, the Lady Cats opened a 6-2 lead over Christian after the first quarter.
Morgen Billings hit a pair of shots to lead the second as Bowling Green outscored Christian 12-7 to go into halftime with an 18-9 lead.
Christian made a push early in the period to cut their deficit to just five points, but Bowling Green came back fast. Deters scored seven in the third, along with baskets from Madeline Norton, Twellman and Niemeyer as the Lady Cats expanded their lead with a 15-10 third quarter.
Bowling Green put the game away with a 7-4 fourth quarter.
Deters had a double-double with 15 points and more than 10 rebounds and had numerous steals and assists to earn the Community State Bank TribCast Player of the Game.
Twellman scored seven in the win. Billings and Niemeyer each had six, Norton scored four and Caitlin Bilhartz hit two in the victory.
The Lady Cats were 6-15 from the free throw line in the opening round game.
Coach Craig Smith noted the win wasn’t pretty, but was pleased with the efforts of several players who have stepped up. The team lost Kinley Charlton last week to an ankle injury. Smith said the bench is stepping up in a big way.
Hermann defeated Bowling Green in the championship game of the Montgomery County Tournament at the beginning of the season. Smith said they will be looking to adjust depending on the defense Hermann comes out with.
“We’ll really have to execute on the offensive end.”
He added they will be trying different defensive strategies as well to hold down possessions.
Top-Seeded Lady Hawks Dominate In Opening Round Win Over Louisiana
Jillian Lockard scored 1,000th career point early and the top seeded Clopton Lady Hawks advanced to the semifinals of the Class 2 District 5 Tournament with a 72-32 win over Louisiana on Saturday.
The Lady Bulldogs came out feisty and the Lady Hawks committed a thirteen first half fouls, but Clopton still led the number eight seeded Louisiana 30-12 after the first quarter.
Kaitlyn Kuntz score fifteen in the first quarter for the Hawks and Jillian Lockard scored her milestone point with a three pointer in the opening minutes.
Faith Rule and Kamara Combs each scored four points for the Lady Bulldogs in the opening eight minutes.
Combs scored another four in the second quarter, but the Bulldogs only converted 3 of 11 free throws in the second quarter and were outscored by Clopton 19-7 in the frame.
Jillian scored six points for Clopton in the quarter.
The Hawks scored another nineteen points in the third quarter with eight more points from Lockard, setting up a running clock fourth quarter.
The final eight minutes produced only seven combined points as the Hawks coasted to the semifinal round.
Lockard was the top scorer for the Hawks and one of four Clopton players with ten or more points in the contest and was named the Community State Bank/TribCast Player of the Game.
Scoring for Clopton: Jillian Lockard, 19 points; Kaitlyn Kuntz, 18 points; Calynn Lockard, 10 points; Caragan Lockard, 10 points; Allison Hunter, 5 points; Megan Harrelson, 4 points; Madisyn Parrish, 4 points, Logan Hall, 2 points.
Scoring for Louisiana: Kamara Combs, 12 points; Faith Rule, 10 points; Mechia Campbell, 5 points; Michelle Watts, 3 points; Jaime Sencenbaugh, 2 points.
The Bulldogs season came to an end with a 4-20 record and will lose seniors Kamara Combs, Michelle Watts, Maria Gutierrez and Ella Karttunen to graduation at the end of term.
Clopton will face the (4)Van-Far Lady Indians in the semifinals at Elsberry on Tuesday. Gametime is set for 5:30 PM.
Van-Far Advances To Semifinal With Win Over Mark Twain
The Van-Far Lady Indians advanced out of the first round of districts for the first time since 2011-12 by downing Mark Twain 53-45 in the Class 2 District 5 Tournament at Elsberry on Saturday.
Jordan Garner scored three points as the Lady Indians edged the Lady Tigers 7-6 in the first quarter.
Garner added four more points in the second and Jayle Jennings added a big three for Van-Far in the second quarter while the Lady Indians defense held Mark Twain to just seven second quarter points to lead 19-13 at halftime.
The teams both heated up out of the locker room as Jennings drained another three and the Lady Indians increased their lead to ten points by outscoring Mark Twain 17-13 in the third quarter.
Garner scored eight points in the final eight minutes for the Lady Indians as Van-Far held off a furious Mark Twain attack.
The Lady Tigers outscored Van-Far 19-17 in the fourth and had the Lady Indian lead under eight points before Abigail Hunn grabbed a key rebound to seal the win in the final minute.
Garner led the way for the Lady Indians with eighteen points to earn the Community State Bank/TribCast Player of the Game as Van-Far avenged a February 1st home loss to the Lady Tigers.
Scoring for Van-Far: Jordan Garner, 18 points; Jayle Jennings, 13 points; Haley Basket, 9 points; Devyn Keller, 6 points; Panna Connaway, 6 points; Aubrey Bunge, 1 point.
The Lady Indians will now face top-seeded Clopton in the district semifinal tonight (Tuesday, Feb. 19) at 5:30 p.m.
Season Ends For Lady Owls Against Paris In The Opening Round
A second quarter scoring drought was enough to end the Silex Lady Owls season on Saturday with a 52-29 loss top the second seed Paris Lady Coyotes in the Class 2 District 5 Opening Round.
The Lady Owls opened the game like a team looking for an upset, leading for a time thanks to eight points from Mollie Stanek and another six from Lexi Plackemeyer in the first quarter.
The Lady Coyotes took over the lead late in the quarter with a three pointer from Allison Moore and ten points from the 6’5” Tori Hamilton.
The Lady Owls looked poised to take control of the game and even the fouls evened up, then the second quarter came.
Paris switched up their defense and completely shut down the Silex scoring.
The Lady Coyotes outscored Silex 14-0 in the second quarter to extend their three point lead to seventeen by the half.
Silex was outscored 20-7 in the final two quarters by Paris as Stanek was held to just a pair of second half free throws.
Plackemeyer doubled her game total in the second half and finished the game as the Lady Owls leading scorer.
Scoring for the Lady Owls: Lexi Plackemeyer, 12 points; Mollie Stanek, 10 points; Chloe Kinion, 3 points; Kate McDonald, 2 points; Casie Pruitt, 1 point; Halle Mueller, 1 point.
Silex finished the season with an 11-15 record and will lose seniors Mollie Stanek, Halle Mueller, Kate McDonald, Izzy Sgroi and Kasey Hinkebein at the end of the school year.
All of the area’s district games are featured on TribCast and can be accessed in the archive, along with more free, downloadable photos, at www.thepeoplestribune.com.
