Junior High girls claim tournament titles

The Oran Junior High School girls basketball teams made a clean sweep of the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament last night by defeating Delta.  The seventh-grade picked up an improbable 31-25 victory, while the eighth-grade prevailed, 45-26.

Oran was the number one seed at both levels but had lost to Delta less than a week before on the road after the seed meeting had already taken place.  The Bobcats had the second seed and were undefeated coming into the evening.

The younger girls struggled early and were down 15-0 before getting on the board with just over two minutes remaining in the opening quarter.  After one it was 15-6.

Oran slowly cut the deficit.

The Eagles trailed 17-11 at the break and with just over three minutes remaining in the third period, Oran took its first lead of the game 20-19 and managed the six-point win.

Coach Ethan Evans said of the game, " This was a nice come from behind victory for the girls. It wasn’t the start that we hoped for but to dig out of a 15-0 hole was awesome. I couldn’t be more happy for this group of girls."

Bralynn Morgan was the game's leading scorer with 15.  She hit two from beyond the arc. 

Addie Nichols finished with eight.  Lilly Knotts had four.  Olivia Schlosser and Molly Spane had a field goal apiece.

They were 3 of 7 from the line for 43%. 

They finished the year with a second-place plaque for the S-MC regular season with a 5-1 league mark and 13-1 overall.

The eighth-grade, who played the entire event with only five healthy players, as Carly Gloth was injured, led from start to finish and extended a tight game out to 19 points late for a little breathing room.

Oran led 16-8 after one and 26-18 at the intermission. The outpointed the Bobcats 19-8 the rest of the way.

Evans said, "These girls showed heart and determination by going out and winning the championship with only 5 healthy girls. The offense and defense both got going early and girls knocked down shots. We are very proud of them."

Grace Davis had 21 points, including 5 of 6 from the charity stripe, and Liza Dannenmueller had 10.

Maddie Stickel scored seven. Laney Shy four and Emma Priggel hit a trey for her points.

After going just 9-22 from the free throw line during the earlier five-point loss, the Lady Eagles hit 6 of 8 for 75% last night. 

The older girls also finished second in league play with a 6-1 record and 14-2 in all games.  They finished their junior high careers with a 23-4 record.