By Kary Booher (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
NORWOOD, Mo. – In all honesty, Hartville High School junior point guard Sadie Chisum and sophomore forward Grace Culver looked more relieved than anything. And looked worn out.
This was in the aftermath. After the celebration and high-fives. Even long after the team photo.
But, really, who could blame them?
Hartville captured the Class 2, District 4 championship by turning back Fordland 66-58 in a nail-biter of a Friday night at Norwood High School, withstanding Sadie Sparks’ game-high 25 points and a potential go-ahead 3-pointer that refused to fall in the final minute.
You see, Hartville built a double-digit advantage in the second quarter, only to see it almost evaporate. Same thing in the third stanza. And it was almost a repeat in the fourth quarter, when Hartville led by nine points with 1:42 left and yet saw junior Abi Southard nearly lift Fordland over the top with a 3-point attempt – it rimmed in, then out – with 50 seconds left.
Hartville led 60-58 at that point and hung on from there.
“We wanted to feel like people got their money’s worth,” joked Hartville coach Mike Percival, whose team (25-7) won the program’s first district title since 2009 and will play Neelyville on Wednesday at Mountain Grove High School.
Chisum finished with a team-high 18 points, and Culver added 14 on a night when a 12-2 run in the second quarter – with Chisum on the bench and in foul trouble – proved the difference. It gave Hartville a brief, 10-point cushion that was insurmountable.
“The first time we played Fordland, we had them down 17 and they came back,” Culver said. “We knew how to handle that.”
Said Chisum, “I think (the win) says our team doesn’t quit. We had a chance to roll over every time they got momentum. We just really wanted to win.”
Fordland (22-7) was collectively and understandably in emotional after emerging from the postgame locker room, having left everything on the court.
Its coach, Kevin McDaris, was still in disbelief.
Southard’s potential go-ahead 3-pointer – a clean look right in front of the Fordland bench – had the perfect arch, descent and everything you want. But it kicked around in the cylinder, popped out and fell to the side.
“I still don’t know how it didn’t go in,” McDaris said. “When it went back up in the air, I thought it was still going to go.”
What kept Fordland hanging around was its finishes in each of the final three quarters, but none more important than in the final 90 seconds.
Twice Fordland’s aggressive defense forced turnovers on Hartville’s in-bounds passes, with the first one leading to senior Brooke Hyder’s 3-pointer and the next leading to Sparks sinking two of three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt.
Chisum missed the front ends of one-and-ones at the other end, and then Southard took aim.
Fortunately for Hartville, that was the last storm to weather, with its notable scoring bursts giving it enough padding.
In the second quarter, Hartville scored 23 points by scoring on 11 possessions and connecting on 10 of 12 field goal attempts. At one point, Hartville built an 18-8 advantage, doing so with Chisum on the bench in foul trouble.
“We talked about that quite a bit at halftime,” McDaris said. “We missed an opportunity with Chisum out. Credit to them (Hartville). She does so much for them and, when she’s out, they sometimes struggle. But they didn’t tonight.”
Southard finished with 14 points, and Emily Whitehead finished with 11 points for Fordland, which also narrowed the second-quarter, 10-point deficit to 29-24 at halftime and an 11-point, third-quarter deficit to 47-41 before the final stanza.
Skylar Divine (11) and Grace Still (10) each finished in double figures for Hartville, which saw Katie Still contribute eight points and Jadyn Keith score five points off the bench.
“Coach McDaris does a great job,” Percival said. “For us, we’ve been in a lot of championship games and haven’t always stepped up to the top. But we lost early in the year on this floor in the Norwood Tournament and, from that point, they kids have come together.”
