By Jordan Burton
Rob Guerin and Jeremy Mullins chatted at midcourt following the conclusion of Wednesday’s Crane-Pierce City, as they typically do.
And – for the first time since taking over at Pierce City in 2012 – Guerin came out on the good end against his former college roommate.
The Lady Eagles rallied late in the fourth quarter and outscored Crane 9-6 in overtime to advance to the Class 2 Quarterfinals with a 59-56 win.
“They’re just tough, physically and mentally,” said Guerin. “They never let doubt get in their way and they always think the next play is the best play. We don’t focus on anything that has happened, we just focus on doing the next play right. This is my 100th win at Pierce City as well so it made it a little more special. It was also nice to get back at Crane, which has gotten us three times in a row in this game.”
Ragan Blinzler was just a freshman last time they met in the playoffs, but the junior guard came up with a game-changing defensive play late in overtime, taking a charge on Crane standout Madison Hicks with the game tied at 54.
Pierce City didn’t allow a Crane field goal during the final 2:30 of overtime to help preserve the win.
“She’s only taken maybe one or two so far this season, she just knew that she had to do it for the team,” said Guerin. “She was probably going to score on it and it would have been Blinzler’s fourth foul. It was huge that she stepped up and made the right play.”
Things were seemingly headed the other way when Crane took a 46-41 lead late in the fourth, prompting a Pierce City timeout.
The Lady Eagles responded with a 6-0 spurt, all coming off the right hand of Kendyl Hayward.
The sophomore post finished with 14 points, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter and overtime. Crane struggled to defend both Hayward and junior Belle Golubski.
The duo combined for more than half of Pierce City’s points, including scoring 14 of the team’s final 20 to end the game.
“It’s a blessing to have both of them,” said Guerin. “They couldn’t stop Belle in the first and they couldn’t stop Kendyl late which is why it’s really nice to have both of them and they really work well together. They can find each other just as well as the guards can and they’re unselfish; they don’t care who scores as long as we keep winning.”
Crane trailed 20-10 after the first quarter, but stormed back in the second to grab a 27-24 halftime lead.
Sophomore Madison Hicks – Crane’s leading scorer – heated up in the second half to help the Lady Pirates take that late lead, scoring 17 of her team-high 19 points in the final two quarters and overtime.
Classmates Oliva Doto and Sadie McMenamy added 13 and 12 points respectively.
Crane will be loaded next year, returning four of five starters, but the Lady Pirates will lose four-year letterman and three-time state champion Madison Fulp; the lone senior on this year’s team.
Fulp helped guide a roster lacking in experience and expectations to a district championship that few saw coming.
“This has been a special group that just continued to get better all year,” said Mullins. “We were 1-8 to start the season and I was worried. But they learned, they trusted the process and they came in and got better every day. They really worked hard and got it rolling the last few games of the year.”
Pierce City received a monster performance from senior guard Kayla Portillo, who scored eight of her 17 points in the first quarter to help get the Lady Eagles going.
Things get no easier for Pierce City…
Up next is a Skyline team – ranked No. 1 in Class 2 – that has appeared in four straight Final Fours and hasn’t lost a game to a Class 2 team not called Crane in more than a year.
“We haven’t talked about it,” said Guerin. “We were worried about Crane tonight and like the saying goes, you take it one game at a time. We haven’t talked about Saturday but they might get to learn about that tomorrow.”
Pierce City and Skyline will tip-off at approximately 2:45 p.m. on Saturday, March 4, at Drury’s O’Reilly Family Event Center for a trip to Columbia.
Pierce City 59, Crane 56 F/OT
Pierce City 20-4-12-18-9 – 59
Crane 10-17-17-10-6 – 56
Pierce City (25-4): Golubski 19, Portillo 17, Hayward 14, Stellwagen 4, Blinzler 3, Strickler 2.
Crane (13-16): Hicks 19, McMenamy 13, Doto 12, Fulp 5, Edwards 3, Hayes 2, Vaught 2.
