By Riley Bean
Galena, MO – This season’s Crane Lady Pirates team seems quite far removed from last year’s 4-peat state championship team. Considering Crane’s 12-15 record entering Friday’s district title game against Blue Eye, Crane was more of an afterthought.
But Crane proved they have championship DNA, upsetting the 21-6 Blue Eye Lady Bulldogs to earn the Class 2, District 11 title in Galena, their fifth in a row.
“I credit my girls. We’ve been talking about hard work all season long,” said head coach Jeremy Mullins. “At the first of the year when we were 1-8, I was like there’s no way we can get this job done and be in the hunt at this time of the year. But they finally bought in late.”
The game was an ugly one. Three Crane starters fouled out in the contest, and there were a whopping 55 total free throw attempts combined.
Lady Pirates forward Madison Hicks led all scorers with 20 points, including 12-17 from the charity stripe.
“This was our goal from the beginning to play Blue Eye for the district championship,” said Hicks, “and this is probably the first time our group has beaten Blue Eye. So it’s a big deal.”
These teams met on Jan. 30 when Blue Eye beat Crane 72-59.
In that contest, Blue Eye forced Crane into a 29 turnovers with a tough full-court press. The Bulldogs used the same strategy on Friday.
And for a while, it worked. Blue Eye began the fourth quarter on a 7-1 run which was propelled by that press defense. They stole multiple Crane inbound passes and converted them to baskets during that spurt, giving Blue Eye a 33-28 lead early in the final frame.
But Crane made the adjustments down the stretch. From that point on, Crane went on a 19-8 run to close the game and secure the victory from the free throw line.
Coach Mullins credits the adjustments made to Blue Eye’s press.
“I think throughout this season we’ve been pressed so much, but finally tonight it sank in that if we held our composure and do what we asked of them in practice on a daily basis – jump stop, get your head up – I think that finally clicked a little bit and we were able to break down and we got some easy transition buckets over the top on them. I think that really helped us.”
Crane will face Pierce City – the District 12 champs – in the sectional round on Wednesday, May 1. They’re in pursuit of their fifth-straight state championship.
Don’t overlook their 13-15 record, because they are used to being overlooked this season.
“We persevered through it and you gotta be tough,” said Hicks. “We have strong will. We are a really strong-willed team. When we gotta get it done, we’ll get it done. We’re looking forward to sectionals and I think we’re going to get the job done.”
Crane – 7 – 10 – 10 – 20 – 47
Blue Eye – 7 – 11 – 8 – 15 – 41
Crane – Madison Hicks 20, Madison Fulp 9, Sadie McMenamy 7, Olivia Edwards 5, Olivia Doto 4, Mackinzie Funcannon 2
Blue Eye – Kohnnar Patton 16, Kenedi Larson 9, Katelynn Hansen 8, Ayshia Bettlach 4, Hope Smith 2, Madison Box 2
