Defense fuels McAuley girls to second-straight district title

img_5005-17

By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)

Trailing by 10 points with just more than six minutes left in the game, McAuley Catholic’s hopes of a second straight district championship were on thin ice.

“I just told them in the huddle there’s no tomorrow, you guys have to give me everything you’ve got right now,” coach Michael Howard recalled. “I need traps, I need turnovers, I need points in transition because we’re not scoring in our half-court offense.”

The Warriors took the message to heart and finished the game on an 18-4 run to beat Hume 41-37 in the Class 1 District 7 girls basketball championship at Lamar on Friday night.

“It feels amazing,” Howard said. “Back to back. It’s a testament of their hard work, their heart and their not quitting when they’re down facing adversity. We have a pretty veteran team. Our upperclassmen have played in three district championship games in a row now. They know what comes with this game. They know the challenges in this game and they know it’s not going to be easy so they put everything they got there and we were able to come out with the victory.”

Top-seeded McAuley led 14-13 at halftime despite making just four field goals in the first two quarters – Hume scored just two points in the first eight minutes. But the Hornets pulled ahead in the third and led by as many as eight points.

The Warriors (19-8) gained some momentum in the final seconds of the third when freshman Kloee Williamson scored with five seconds on the clock and junior Kayleigh Teeter stole the inbounds pass and scored on a short layup at the buzzer.

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME

It was 27-23 Hume at that point, and McAuley’s momentum was short-lived. Hornets senior Makinzi Harris scored three quick points and then senior Braelynn Morrison converted a three-point play to make it 33-23 with 6:39 remaining.

“We were moving the ball really well, we got a couple and-1’s there,” Hume coach Justin Wehar said. “My shooter hit a couple three’s. We were clicking there.”

But the Warriors’ full-court pressure ramped up after that. Hume was scoreless on its next four possessions but still held a 35-28 advantage with 4:42 to go after freshman Brecklen Morrison made two free throws. It was 37-31 after two more Morrison free throws less than a minute later.

McAuley junior Kennedy DeRuy grabbed an offensive rebound and scored at the 4:03 mark, then Hume started a streak of seven-straight possessions with a turnover. Sophomore Lily Black made a basket to cut it to 37-35 with 2:35 on the clock and McAuley finally tied it on a Teeter layup with 2:15 to play.

Teeter added two free throws at 2:08 for the lead, Williamson made one with 39 seconds on the clock and Teeter added another with 12 seconds remaining.

“Their full-court pressure man defense, we expected it, we knew it was coming,” Wehar said. “We made too many mistakes there late in the game. We knew it was coming and we just didn’t handle it good enough. Give them credit. They brought a lot of pressure late in the game and they’re a good ball team. You can’t take anything away from them. Our girls gave it everything we had, we just had a few too many mistakes and they capitalized on it.”

Teeter had a huge fourth quarter after scoring just six points in the first three. She scored 12 points in the final eight minutes and was 6-for-7 at the free throw line.

“That kid has more heart than a lot of people that I’ve ever coached,” Howard said. “I looked at her and I told her this is when I need you to rise to the occasion. I said you’re our leader, we have to have you step up and make plays right now and that’s what she did. She played a tremendous fourth quarter, probably the best fourth quarter I’ve seen in her whole three years she’s been here.”

He credited a raucous McAuley crowd with helping fuel the defensive effort in the final minutes.

“After we were able to get those turnovers and play that hard defensively the crowd really got into it and I think that gave them a jolt of extra energy and they were able to sustain that through the rest of the quarter,” he said.

Teeter led the Warriors with 18 points and DeRuy scored 10. Hume’s Brecklen Morrison had a game-high 22 and was the only Hornet in double figures.

McAuley will face Montrose in a sectional rematch on March 3. The Blue Jays (12-6) beat McAuley 63-31 last year and advanced to this year’s sectional with a five-point win over Drexel in the District 8 finals.

Related Posts

Loading...