By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
WILLARD – The West Plains Lady Zizzers ended Willard’s magical postseason run with a 47-27 victory in the Class 5 sectional round Wednesday night.
And, the key to the Lady Zizzers’ win was to take away what the Lady Tigers have done so well all season – shoot the 3.
“They’re such a great 3-point shooting team and we knew we had to get them off the line a little bit, or at least get a hand up and hope they didn’t make them,” West Plains coach Scott Womack said. “I thought the second thing we had to do is we had to rebound those misses, and we got a few of them. But I thought, overall, we did a really good job of rebounding the ball.”
The game also was played at West Plains’ pace, which affected what Willard also likes to do and that’s get up and down the floor.
The Lady Zizzers, who improved to 26-3 overall, took a 7-6 lead at the end of the first quarter and then exploded in the second by outscoring Willard 16-3 for a 23-9 advantage at halftime.
In the second quarter alone, West Plains capitalized on three back-door plays for baskets and not allowing Willard to knock down shots.
“That’s what you’ve got to do to teams that are going to overplay you like that,” said West Plains senior MacKenzie Brunson, who led the Lady Zizzers with 18 points. “They’re so aggressive and you’ve just got to hit them where it hurts sometimes and the back door was what was working for us tonight.
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“It was just a huge defensive effort for us. We knew what we had to do; we had to stop a lot of their 3s because they shoot 20-30 a game and we limited them to very few.”
Willard (22-5) mounted a comeback in the third quarter, outscoring West Plains 11-10, but could never get any closer than it was in the early going.
“First of all, a lot of credit to Coach Womack, his staff and his young ladies,” Willard coach JJ Adamson said. “They did an awesome job tonight. Their defense is impeccable, so hats off to them. They were fantastic.”
The Lady Tigers were coming off the program’s first district title since 1984 and were led by seniors Ariana Patillo, Jada Holloman, Addy Adamson and Vanessa Wells.
“I’m very proud of our young ladies,” Adamson said. “They have accomplished some things here that haven’t been accomplished in a really long time. It’s unfortunate that, at least for our side, that we didn’t come out on top tonight, but we are doing our best to not let tonight’s ill feelings and hurt overshadow what happened for the rest of the season because it’s been a spectacular ride.
“(The seniors) will be sorely missed. They have provided some fantastic leadership all year long. Their hard work, dedication and selflessness have been example for the rest of our program.”
Ashton Judd, who was coming off a 32-point effort and district player of the year honors, scored just six points Wednesday night, but contributed in other ways, including 16 rebounds and 11 assists.
“The whole team had so much to do with this win tonight,” Brunson said. “It’s just Step 3 of goal 4 coming up on Saturday, and 6 if we want it all, so we’re just taking it day by day.
“We’re going to put all of our hearts into that one, if we want to keep going. We don’t need to change a lot, just play our game and just do what we know how to do.”
Step 4 is a matchup with Carl Junction, a 58-32 winner over McDonald County, in the quarterfinals. Carl Junction knocked the Lady Zizzers out in sectionals last season and in 2017, the last time they advanced that far in the postseason.
“They’ve knocked us out of the sectional round the last two times,” Womack said. “Coach Shorter does such an outstanding job there, and I know he’s going to have them ready for us. So, we’re going to have to have a great effort. We’re taking it one game at a time here, and we’ll enjoy this one tonight and get back in the gym tomorrow and get ready for CJ. It’ll take another great effort all around.”
Class 5 Sectional
WEST PLAINS 47, WILLARD 27
WEST PLAINS 7-16-10-14—47
WILLARD 6-3-11-7—27
WEST PLAINS (26-3) – Georgia Osborn 3, MacKenzie Brunson 18, Drew Harris 3, Ashton Judd 6, Zoey Williams 5, Jade Barry 2, Allyssa Joyner 10.
WILLARD (22-5) – Jada Holloman 3, Brielle Adamson 12, Kailyn Washington 7, Morgan Hall 3, Madi Mills 2.
Up next: Class 5 quarterfinals – West Plains vs. Carl Junction, 1 p.m., March 13
