Two years ago Kickapoo lost three Ozark Conference games by five points or less, finishing just one game away from a share of the conference championship.
Last year a two-point loss to West Plains, at home, is all that stood between Kickapoo and an OC championship.
This year the Lady Chiefs have been on a mission to send a message to the rest of the conference and did so in dominating fashion on Monday, knocking off Camdenton 79-44 to take sole possession of first place in the Ozark Conference race.
Entering Monday, Camdenton and Kickapoo were the only unbeaten teams remaining in the conference.
“To win this league you need to go undefeated and we talked about that coming into tonight,” said Kickapoo coach Jim Pendergrass. “We posted the league standings on the board. It’s very important to win your conference and in this league if you lose a game it’s tough to happen. The team that usually wins it goes undefeated and we need to win them all if we want this championship.”
It took little time for Kickapoo to get going on Monday as the Lady Chiefs scored 21 of the game’s first 22 points and held Camdenton without a field goal for the first seven minutes of the game.
Junior Illinois State commit Jordan Sanders scored 12 points in the first quarter to help guide Kickapoo to a 23-7 lead after eight minutes.
Sanders also tallied three of her team-high six blocks in the first quarter, helping Kickapoo (16-3, 4-0) turn defense into easy, transition offense.
“The amount of deflections she gets is unbelievable and her length can really cause people problems,” said Pendergrass. “She’s getting more comfortable and growing as a player and we are seeing that progression year to year and even day to day. She’s a very hard worker.”
The second quarter turned into a track meet with Kickapoo outscoring Camdenton 26-20, taking a 49-27 lead into the intermission, but in the third quarter the Lady Chiefs amped up the defensive pressure, holding the Lady Lakers to just nine points and 17 total in the second half.
Monday marked the sixth straight game that Kickapoo held its opponent to 40 points or less.
After limiting state-ranked Branson to just 34 points on Saturday, the most impressive part about Kickapoo’s dismantling of Camdenton (12-5, 3-1) was the fact that senior SBU signee Laura Vierkant held future teammate Bailey Rezabek, one of the area’s top scorers, to just two points.
“Laura Vierkant the last two games has taken on the challenge,” said Pendergrass. “She guarded Amanda Kearney the other night and guarded Rezabek tonight and did a great a job. We’ve also done a tremendous job of backing her up with help defense.”
Sanders finished with a game-high 24 points, sophomore Audrey Warren scored 18, while Vierkant and sophomore Jordan Wersinger added 17 and 10 respectively.
Evangel signee Sophie Shore led Camdenton with 16 points. She was the only Lady Laker to reach double figures.
Kickapoo is now a perfect 8-0 since the start of 2016 with all eight wins coming by at least 22 points. With Class 5 No. 1 Parkway North losing to Lebanon over the weekend, coupled with Kickapoo’s recent dominance, there is a chance the Lady Chiefs could jump Republic for the state’s No. 1 ranking despite the Lady Tigers beating Kickapoo 65-59 earlier in the season.
While Pendergrass isn’t worried about state polls, he continues to be pleased with how his team is gelling.
“We are getting better as the season goes along and the more they play together the better we get,” said Pendergrass. “Sometimes it just takes practices and playing games for things to come together. We are getting high percentage shots and taking care of the ball offensively and playing extremely well on the defensive end as well.”
Kickapoo will host Parkview in OC play on Thursday, while Camdenton will visit Glendale.
