By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
ROGERSVILLE – When Strafford star Elsie Larsen went down early in the third quarter with an injury Friday night, the Lady Indians rallied around her in a big way.
Led by younger sister, Kinley, who scored a game-high 31 points, the Strafford Lady Indians won their second-straight Class 4 District 10 championship with a 75-68 victory over the host Logan-Rogersville Lady Wildcats.
“First off, I gotta thank our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” said Strafford head coach Dustin Larsen. “It’s an unbelievable example of a team. I couldn’t be more proud of this group of young ladies and the growth that they’ve had and the passion they have for each other.”
The teams played to a 38-38 tie at halftime, with Sidney Holland leading the Lady Wildcats with 12 points, while Elsie Larsen and Trista VanHorn paced Strafford with 11 points apiece. Each team won a quarter in the first half, and the second half was primed to bring more of the same intensity.
At the 6:23 mark of the third quarter, Elsie Larsen went down with what appeared to be a knee injury. The trainer attended to her, and after a few minutes, Elsie stood up and was helped to the bench. She came back in with 5:06 remaining in the quarter but exited again about a minute later.
It was at that point that her little sister knew she and her teammates needed to step up, and they did in a big way.
“She’s our leader and we’re going to do anything for her,” said Kinley, who had just five, first-half points. “She’s got our back and we’ve got hers. We just had to bind together and buckle down and say, ‘Hey, we can do this without her, but we’re doing this for her. With that mindset, everything was for Elsie. She means a lot to us.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Kinley proceeded to score 10 of the Lady Indians’ 16 points in the third quarter, with Trista VanHorn chipping in with the other six. Kinley capped off the quarter with a Caitlin Clark-distance 3-pointer at the buzzer to put Strafford up 54-50 heading into the fourth.
“They’re great ones for us,” Coach Larsen said of Kinley and Trista. “Every night, we’re going to have someone different show up and compete and we’re all going to celebrate each other. That’s what it’s about. That’s why you respect this game, respect each other and love it. They’ve poured into each other and it’s well-deserved.”
After a fairly quiet first half and then losing Elsie early in the second half, Kinley wasn’t going to allow herself or her team to get down.
“I just had to keep shooting,” Kinley said. “In the first half, things weren’t going down, but I had to keep shooting; I couldn’t give up. “So, I think just staying consistent and staying confident… my teammates have that confidence in me, my coaches have that confidence in me, so I just had to welcome that pressure, welcome the intensity of the crowd and just go at it with a full head of steam.”
And that, she did.
Kinley added 16 more points in the fourth quarter, including going 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. Trista VanHorn added 17 points, Elsie Larsen scored 11 first-half points, and Blair Bough also had 11 points, was a beast on the boards and added several deflections and steals.
“Elsie’s our girl, this team is her girls, and she’s going to fight,” Coach Larsen said. “The kid’s (Kinley) a gamer. They all pulled together; it wasn’t just her. It took everyone fighting defensively, scrapping, and it was just a good team effort.”
Logan-Rogersville coach Cory Watts said that foul trouble hurt his Lady Wildcats late in the game.
“That probably was the difference in the game, but we made a lot of shots,” Watts said. “Like I just told our girls, I don’t know that we could have played a whole lot better. It was actually a great game; a lot of great players on the floor, a great atmosphere for the girls – really, kind of what high school basketball should be.
“I don’t think they could have done much more. I thought their effort was excellent. They matched the intensity of Strafford. They gave it all they could and I’m super-proud of them.”
The Lady Indians will face Boonville, the Class 4 District 9 winner, on Monday at Lebanon High School in the sectional round. Coach Larsen said that they will have to wait and see if Elsie will be available for that game.
“We’ll have to talk to the trainer and see,” Coach Larsen said. “It’s a quick turnaround and if she’s capable, she will. And if not, we’re going to put our team out there and she’ll be leading them from the side and cheering along. We’ll just have to see what the next 48 hours brings.”
Kinley said the Lady Indians will be ready.
“‘We don’t get tired’ is our motto, so we just can’t get tired,” Kinley said. “We’ve got to keep punching and keep throwing our punches any time because Rogersville is a great team, all the respect to them. But they were battle-tested, we were battle-tested, and we just had to come out on top and stay together and stay connected.”
(1) STRAFFORD 75, (2) LOGAN-ROGERSVILLE 68
Class 4 District 10 Championship
LOGAN-ROGERSVILLE 20-18-12-18—68 STRAFFORD 25-13-16-21—75
LOGAN-ROGERSVILLE (23-5) – Hailey Buckman 20, Eden Kibby 12, Reagan Rasmussen 9, Millie MacPherson 3, Sidney Holland 19, Addison Cleghorn 3, Courtney Batey 2.
STRAFFORD (25-3) – Elsie Larsen 11, Kinley Larsen 31, Trista VanHorn 17, Blair Bough 11, Lizzy VanHorn 5.
Up next: Class 4 sectionals – Strafford vs. Boonville 23-5 (60-48 winner over California in Class 4 District 9 final), 6 p.m., Monday, March 9 at Lebanon High School
