Catholic, Clever advance in Class 3 District 11 girls’ tourney

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By Denise Tucker/For OzarksSportsZone.com

The higher seeds prevailed in the Class 3 District 11 girls’ basketball tournament at Fair Grove High School on Monday. Here’s a recap of the action, featuring wins by Springfield Catholic and Clever.

Defense the difference  for Catholic

The Catholic Lady Irish knew that if they were going to get past Ash Grove on Monday night, they were going to have to take away the Lady Pirates’ weapon.

“It was this game that we were really worried about because of the magnitude of the game,” Catholic coach Dan Stander said. “Everybody has seniors, just like the (Mallory) Keith girl. She’s just a great, great player and I thought we did a good job on her tonight, holding her down to five points (18 below her average).

“We hang our hat on our defense. That’s how we win. We had an off-night, offensively, I thought.”

But the fourth-seeded Lady Irish had enough offense on Monday night to advance with a 50-36 victory in a Class 3 District 11 quarterfinal.

“Hats off to Ash Grove,” Stander said. “They’ve been playing well, so we knew what we had. We knew it was going to be a challenge. And luckily, like I’ve told (my team) they can be off on offense, but they can’t be off on defense, and we put together a good defensive effort.”

And that effort resulted in holding Keith, a 1,000-point scorer for her career, to just one point in the first half and five total for the game.

“They were double- and triple-teaming Mallory, at times, as they should,” Ash Grove coach Austin Houp said. “We just couldn’t get the other girls’ shots to always fall; in the first half, it did. That’s what kept it to a seven-point game (28-21) at half.

“In the second half, the other girls’ shots just weren’t falling, and with a couple of turnovers there late, that ends up being the difference.”

Madison Chittenden was a big part of the Lady Irish taking the lead at halftime, scoring 13 of her game-high 19 points in the first half, and taking on the assignment of guarding Keith.

“My plan all along was to put Emma Lucas on (Keith) to start,” Stander said, “because I knew she could really stay with her. And then, I decided there, down the stretch, to put someone a little bit taller on her. And Madison is just smart. She’s a ballplayer. We kept that extra little hand up and she couldn’t get a shot off.

“But, what a great player. (Keith) is going to go off and play somewhere else. Her career is not over, and my hat’s off to her.”

But Catholic lives to play another day.

The Lady Irish, who improved to 16-9, will take on top-seeded and Class 3 No. 1 Strafford, an 84-17 winner over Hollister, in the semifinals on Wednesday night.

“Our saying, all week long, since our last game with Bolivar has been, ‘There is no tomorrow without today,’ ” Stander said. “And that’s what we base everything on. We’ll go to practice tomorrow and we’ll talk about Strafford.

“There is no pressure on us (in facing Strafford). Do we think we can win? My kids think we can win the game, and that’s the most important thing. Out of all the upsets in history, the common denominator is, ‘Did you believe you could upset?’ Those people that did it, those players believed that, and we believe.”

(4) CATHOLIC GIRLS 50, (5) ASH GROVE 36

Class 3 District 11 quarterfinal

 ASH GROVE– 11-10-5-10—36
CATHOLIC – 16-12-13-9—50

ASH GROVE (11-13) – Kennedi Climer 16, Sydnee Cashio 7, Mallory Keith 5, Patsy Gorski 4, Stefani Duncan 2, Riley Hammons 2.
CATHOLIC (16-9) – Madison Chittenden 19, Lindsey Murphy 8, Emma Lucas 8, Olivia Wilson 8, Jaycee Cabasi 3, Lilly Edwards 2, Kayla Pfitzner 2.

Big second quarter sparks Clever

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The Clever Lady Bluejays were not going to wait until late in the game to decide their fate against Forsyth in the Class 3 District 11 quarterfinals Monday night.

The second-seeded Lady Bluejays outscored the No. 7 Lady Panthers 20-6 in the second quarter to put the game away early on their way to a 65-32 victory.

“That was better,” said Clever head coach Dan Jones, after his Lady Bluejays just got past Forsyth for a 62-58 win on Feb. 16. “Not taking anything away from them (Forsyth), but we were just coming off probably the best game we had played all year against Blue Eye (a 72-43 win) and we were playing really good, so I was a little nervous coming into this game.”

But the Lady Bluejays left no doubt in this one.

After taking a 17-10 lead after the first quarter, Clever turned up the heat on defense, denying Forsyth much offensively and forcing turnovers which they turned into points.

PHOTOS: CLEVER VS. FORSYTH

“We’ve got a lot of girls with good, quick hands and we try and use those gifts that they’ve been given,” Jones said. “And they do a really good job; they have good instincts; their parents have taken them to play a lot their whole lives, so I’ve got a really good group to work with. I like for my players to be able to play on instinct and they did a really good job of that tonight.”

Hannah Maples sparked the second quarter by scoring eight of her 13 points, while Allie Clevenger and Madison Newman each had seven points at the half.

Jones said his team was a little flat the last time Clever faced Forsyth, so the team took some time off and watched game film to learn from that meeting.

“We saw the mistakes that were made and the girls saw the lack of energy,” Jones said, “Even when they were tired they could have brought it tonight. In the locker room, I said, ‘What do you guys have,’ and they said, ‘Coach, we’ve just gotta come out and we gotta play hard the whole game.’ And, I said, ‘Hey, you sound like a coach, so let’s go do it.’ ”

Clever, which improved to 18-6, kept its balanced scoring attack going on Monday with Harper Little leading the way with 16 points. Clevenger and Maples added 13 apiece.

But Forsyth just didn’t have an answer for the Lady Bluejays.

“I didn’t think we came out with the intensity that we came out with last Thursday,” Forsyth coach Mandy Rogers said. “Every time we would have a good spurt, we would just turn around and hand it right back to them. We just couldn’t get consistent on either end.

“Defensively, they were finding holes against us tonight and finishing a lot better.”

Next up for Clever will be Fair Grove, a 49-34 winner over Buffalo, in a semifinal matchup on Wednesday night.

“We’re going to have to come out Wednesday night and play our best game,” Jones said. “I think if we do that, we’ll be able to come out victorious, but we’re going to have to come out laser-focused and not take any plays off.”

(2) Clever 65, (7) Forsyth 32

Class 3 District 11 quarterfinal 

FORSYTH – 10-6-9-7—32
CLEVER – 17-20-17-11—65

FORSYTH (13-11) – Ashton Davison 10, Lacey Moore 9, Maycee Lumley 5, Kenlee Nuss 4, Karissa Chambers 2, Emily Shipman 2.
CLEVER (18-6) – Harper Little 16, Allie Clevenger 13, Hannah Maples 13, Abi Menzies 8, Madison Newman 7, Ashton Graaff 5, Tessa Newman 3.

 

CLASS 3 DISTRICT 11 QUARTERFINALS RECAP

(1) Strafford 84, (8) Hollister 17

Strafford led 48-4 by halftime on its way to an easy victory. Sophomore Hayley Frank had her fifth triple-double of the season, finishing with 30 points, 15 rebounds, 12 steals and seven assists. Abby Oliver scored 18 points and Logan Jones added 11 points.

(3) Fair Grove 49, (6) Buffalo 34

Fair Grove dodged an upset bid by Buffalo in the nightcap. The Eagles outscored the Bison 28-11 in the second half after trailing by two (23-21) at halftime. Sophomore Alana Findley had 25 points and 21 rebounds to lead Fair Grove.

REMAINING C3 D11 SCHEDULE (@ Fair Grove HS)

Feb. 22: (1) Strafford vs. (4) Catholic, 6 p.m.
Feb. 22: (2) Clever vs. (3) Fair Grove, 8 p.m.
Feb. 24: Finals, 6 p.m.

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