Who needs driver’s licenses when you have your first winning streak of the season?
The super-young Springfield Catholic girls’ basketball team won its third straight game Thursday night, this one coming in unlikely fashion as the Irish out-scored Rogersville by 10 in the final two minutes to prevail 45-44 in the semifinals of the Central Bank Lady Cat Classic.
Freshman Madison Chittenden went 3-for-4 at the free throw line in the final 33 seconds to cap the Catholic comeback. The Irish, trailing 42-33, closed the game on a 12-2 run after not making a fourth-quarter field goal until nearly the 2-minute mark.
“These kids are resilient,” said Irish coach Dan Stander, whose team entered last week 1-10 overall but has won three straight since.
The Irish have no seniors on their roster and just one junior. Against Rogersville, Catholic’s freshmen accounted for 37 of the team’s 45 points, led by 15 points from Chittenden.
With such a young roster, Stander was understandably concerned heading into Thursday night after the 6th-seeded Irish upset 3-seed Glendale in Monday’s quarterfinals. Bad weather canceled school, which meant no practice.
“We have one person that can drive,” Stander said. “If you look at it that way, we haven’t even been in the gym lately.”
Trailing 44-42 with 33.6 seconds remaining, Chittenden went 1-for-2 at the line to get Catholic within a point. After a Rogersville turnover, Chittenden drew another foul to get back to the line, where she made two attempts that put the Irish ahead 45-44 with 16 seconds left.
On its final possession, Rogersville got the ball inside to the left block, but a shot attempt at the buzzer hit the backboard and rimmed off.
“We got a good look. We didn’t panic. Audra (Metz) made a great catch on it and then she threw it down to the block and we got a good shot at the basket. I thought we were going to make the shot, but we didn’t,” said Wildcats coach Denny McHenry.
Before the shot, Rogersville (9-6 overall) had in-bounded the ball with 4.7 seconds left. But the clock was late to start, forcing the Wildcats to in-bound the ball again with 2.9 seconds left.
A Hailey Brown 3-pointer gave Rogersville a 40-33 lead with 5 minutes remaining, but the Wildcat offense slowed down from there. In the final 1:30, Rogersville twice missed the front end of a one-and-one and committed three turnovers.
“We just have to be more consistent, 32 minutes, for the entire game,” McHenry said. “Tonight it was like we were on, then we were off, then we were on, then we were off.”
A Catholic 3-pointer cut the deficit to 44-40, and that was followed by a Wildcat turnover. After Chittenden scored to make it 44-42, Catholic forced a jump-ball to regain possession and set up the first of three Chittenden free throws in the final 33 seconds.
“Sometimes, freshmen, they have no fear,” Stander said. “There at the end, they didn’t have any fear. They truly believed they were going to win it.”
Catholic meets COC-Small foe Marshfield in Friday night’s title game at 8:30. Rogersville (9-6) plays Class 3 6th-ranked Strafford for 3rd at 7.
“There are just a lot of things we didn’t do well tonight and it’s disappointing because you watch the game before and the No. 1 seed (Strafford) gets upset, so it’s right there in front of you with an opportunity in your own tournament,” McHenry said.
Catholic 45, Rogersville 44
Catholic 10 13 9 13 — 45
Rogersville 14 7 14 9 — 44
Catholic – Madison Chittenden 15, Jaycee Cabasi 9, Emma Lucas 6, Lexie Sutherland 5, Olivia Wilson 5, Lindsey Murphy 3, Maggie Meek 2
Rogersville – Sarah Jordan 12, Hailey Brown 10, Audra Metz 8, Rachel Jenkins 4, Hope Hefley 3, Sarah Posey 3, Olivia Johnston 3, Jordyn Gault 1
Unlike their early season meeting at the Ash Grove Tournament, Marshfield came ready to play – and defend – for 32 minutes against Strafford.
After falling to Strafford 66-48 in that Dec. 3 matchup, Marshfield got a measure of revenge Thursday night by knocking off the tournament’s top seed and the No. 6th-ranked team in Class 3.
Senior Peyton Greenlee hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 35 seconds left and Marshfield survived a pair of potential game-tying 3-pointers by Strafford to win 56-53 in the semifinals of the Lady Cat Classic.
“We didn’t have to have a 3, so (Strafford) kind of went underneath those screens and (Peyton) stepped back and took a big one,” said Marshfield coach Shelly Jones. “I was proud of her for that, but I’m probably more proud of our defense down the stretch and the stops we had.”
Marshfield spotted Strafford a 38-21 halftime lead in their early December meeting, and despite a better second half, was unable to come back.
Thursday’s rematch was a stark contrast, with the game tight throughout and neither team leading by more than five points in the second half.
“In that (Dec. 3) game, we played a half,” Jones said. “We gave (Strafford) a big first half, so we were digging out of a hole. Tonight, we kept it close enough that we could have a good shot and maybe get a win. I thought our kids stayed in the game and worked for four quarters, instead of just having two quarters.”
A rash of turnovers and missed shots filled the final four minutes of Thursday’s tournament meeting. Each made just one field goal in the final half of the fourth quarter, Marshfield’s being the decisive one with the go-ahead trey by Greenlee, who scored a team-high 19.
“It was pretty nerve-racking toward the end, but thankfully Allie (Owens) saw me on that open pass and the whole team ran the play perfectly,” Greenlee said.
After Greenlee’s 3-pointer, Strafford missed a potential tying shot and the Blue Jays grabbed the rebound. Marshfield, though, missed the front end of a one-and-one to give the Indians another chance. After a timeout, Strafford missed another potential tying 3-pointer in the final seconds as the Blue Jays improved to 8-7 overall.
“Rebounding was the key to the entire second half,” Jones said. “Strafford out-rebounded us in the first half and I said at halftime if we could flip-flop that, we could possibly come out with a win.”
Kaylee Larimer scored 20 to lead Strafford, with Hayley Frank adding 17 points.
Marshfield 56, Strafford 53
Marshfield 19 13 13 11 — 56
Strafford 16 19 8 10 — 53
Marshfield – Peyton Greenlee 19, Lilly Johns 15, Katie French 8, Savanna Vance 6, Alexis Moon 4, Allie Owens 3, Zoe Bisby 1
Strafford – Kaylee Larimer 20, Hayley Frank 17, Logan Eden 10, Abby Oliver 4, Kayley Frank 2
Fordland 48, Joplin 39 CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS
Fordland 16 11 9 12 — 48
Joplin 5 9 10 15 — 39
Fordland – Ali Sparks 20, Sophie Sparks 15, Emily Whiteford 6, Amanda Mitchell 5, Tabitha Buttram 2
Joplin – Brittany Dutton 11, Diane Wagler 10, Shelby Beaver 9, Sara Benson 3 Jessica Zengel 2, Madi Devore 2, Mikayla Kuehnel 2
Glendale 60, Sparta 15 CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS
Glendale 16 18 14 12 — 60
Sparta 7 0 5 3 — 15
Glendale – Anna Fredrick 16, Gabby Mathews 11, Morgan Zimmerman 10, Teira Clancy 9, Hannah Pinkston 4, Keaira Clancy 4, Allie Haden 3, Kait Baird 3
Sparta – Breann Anderson 8, Tiffany Lafferty 5, Sabrina Lafferty 2
