Blue Eye can’t contain Ellington’s offense in semifinal loss

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By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)

Ellington had yet to play a team as aggressive defensively as Blue Eye.

The Lady Whippets countered with what they do best: handle the ball and score.

Ellington’s explosive offense won out in a clash of styles Thursday night at JQH Arena in the Class 2 Show-Me Showdown semifinals.

The Lady Whippets used efficient shooting (21-for-43 overall, 9-for-18 from 3) to solve Blue Eye’s pressure defense and defeat the Lady Bulldogs, 68-58.

“Throughout the year, we don’t see a lot of teams try to pressure us because we’re so guard-oriented and we can handle the ball well,” said Ellington coach David Burrows. “We can handle pressure, but we hadn’t really been tested with that kind of pressure throughout the year. We knew we could do it if we just settled down.”

Avery Arnold scored a team-high 17 for Blue Eye. Kyla Warren had 16 points and nine rebounds.

Riley Arnold had 15 points, surpassing 1,000 for her career. She entered the game with 999 career points.

The Lady Bulldogs, who are making their second straight final four appearance, have only one senior on the roster.

“This is a special group,” said Blue Eye coach Ken Elfrink. “Our goal was to win a state title. Losing the players we had from last year, I’m not sure if people realized what all we had coming back. We’re undersized but play hard.”

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME

Ellington’s 68 points were the second-most that Blue Eye has allowed in a game this season. Only Bergman (Ark.) – which prevailed 74-55 in Blue Eye’s season opener – has scored more against the Lady Bulldogs this season.

Burrows said Ellington’s quarterfinal opponent – Oran – was similar to Blue Eye and gave the Lady Whippets good preparation for Thursday’s game.

Ellington sophomore Kaylee King, who came in averaging just shy of 30 points per game, finished with a game-high 25 points.

“We know to get the ball in the hands of our scorers and let them go to work,” Burrows said. “That’s what they were able to do. That was one of the keys to our gameplan: Up the score a little bit.”

On the inside, Gretchen Hackworth finished with 20 points and nine rebounds. The 5’6” junior went 10-for-14 from the free throw line

When it wasn’t King or Hackworth, it was junior guard Laura Gore. She finished with 12 points on 4-for-9 shooting from 3-point range.

“The King girl can fill it up,” Elfrink said. “To me, I was really impressed with (Laura) Gore. You can’t leave her open because she can flat-out shoot it. They have four kids who can shoot then a good player in (Gretchen) Hackworth on the inside. She plays like she’s 6-foot tall.”

Blue Eye, which also lost in the Class 2 semifinals last year, goes for 3rd place on Friday. The Lady Bulldogs play Scotland County at 10 a.m. Friday at Hammons Student Center.

“We want to win our last game, obviously,” Elfrink said. “Only two teams in Class 2 get a chance to do that. We want to go out with a win.”

It took Ellington nearly four minutes to score, but the floodgates would eventually open.

Ellington erupted with 20 points in the second quarter. Riley Arnold’s 3-pointer at the buzzer brought Blue Eye within 31-27 at halftime.

King scored 16 of her game-high 25 in the first half.

It was a sign of things to come.

King’s 3-pointer midway through the third put Blue Eye down 44-31.

Ellington’s lead swelled to 54-36 early in the fourth quarter after a Gore 3-pointer.

Blue Eye didn’t go down without a fight.

The Lady Bulldogs got within nine (56-47) with about three minutes left when Avery Arnold was fouled shooting a 3-pointer. She made all three free throw attempts.

Later, Riley Arnold made a 3-pointer to cut Ellington’s lead to 58-50 with two minutes remaining.

Blue Eye shot 21-for-59 from the field overall, including 7-for-28 on 3-point attempts.

“We were taking some tough shots at times,” Elfrink said. “We had three 3-point lines out there. We were kind of settling for that long, college men’s 3-pointer.”

Ellington plays Wellington-Napoleon at 4 p.m. Friday at JQH Arena in the Class 2 championship game.

Ellington 68, Blue Eye 58
Blue Eye 13 14 9 22 — 58
Ellington 11 20 20 17 — 68

Blue Eye (24-5 overall) – Avery Arnold 17, Kyla Warren 16, Riley Arnold 15, Samantha George 6, Makayla Johnson 4
Ellington (21-5 overall) – Kaylee King 25, Gretchen Hackworth 20, Laura Gore 12, Dylan Price 8, Ellarae Morton 3

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