Quarterfinal sweep, part II

On Sunday, March 5, 2017, I posted "Quarterfinal sweep" never imagining I would get a chance to do another one.

But, after the Oran High School boys and girls basketball teams traveled to Sikeston for the quarterfinal round of the Missouri State basketball tournaments, here it is.

Both Eagle squads took on the Thayer Bobcats

In the opener, neither team shot well, but the Lady Eagles led 13-9 after one but had fallen behind by the intermission, 20-17.  After three Oran was up 28-27 Oran led 39-37  as the clock was ticking down and Thayer had the ball.  The Lady Bobcats took a time out with 17.7 left.  After the inbounds, Thayer hit a three from the right corner.   Oran took the ball down the court and two passes later hit Katie Webb in the lane, she was fouled with 1.7 seconds remaining.  She hit the first of two free throws to tie the score at 40.  After a time out she returned to the line and sank the second.  Thayer took another time out before the inbounds.  Despite a blind-side on Grace Davis at midcourt, Oran held on for a 41-40 victory, moving them into Friday's Semifinal.  The 25-5 Lady Eagles will take on the Lady Bulldogs of  East Buchanan (27-3) at 2:40 pm Friday, March13th. at the Hammond Student Center at Missouri State University.

Webb led all scorers with 22, including 8 of 11 from the line.  

Taylor Lowes scored nine on three threes.  Kaylee Payne had five, including a three.  Grace Davis and Traci Hency had two apiece.  Mallory Lowes added a free throw.

Webb had a team-high eight rebounds, Payne led the Eagles with four assists.

They hit 13-17 free throws for 76.5%, they were 8 of 30 from inside the arc for 25.7% from beyond they were 4 of 11 for 36.4%.

Coach Larry Boshell said, "What a thriller of a game.  I am just proud of this team.  We had a couple of stretches where they took the lead and we battled back, but none bigger than after giving up the go-ahead 3-pointer.  We had discussed it in the timeout that if they hit a 3-pointer to take the lead we are to take it out as fast as possible and push the ball up the floor and take our chances.  We got it in bounds and got it to Kaylee who did a great job of seeing Katie, who had beat most everybody down the floor, went hard to the bucket and drew the foul.  After she hit her first free throw I felt pretty confident she was hitting the second one as well.  Even after they called a time out trying to ice her and to set up a play with 1.6 seconds left, I had a pretty good feeling she was about to give us the lead.  It was wonderful."

Boshell added, "We are going to Springfield with the intentions of bringing back a state title, but if for some reason that doesn't happen, these girls are going to cherish this for the rest of their lives.  We are going to enjoy it, but we are also going to work very hard this week to prepare for the Final Four.

Boshell also said, "Also, I would love to thank all our fans that came out to the game and supported this group of young ladies, I know it means so much to them, and you were simply amazing. "

During the boys game,  Oran led 11-7 after one but trailed, 21-18 at the break.  After three Oran led 28-26.

It looked like the boys had it well in hand 32.8 left, leading 41-33.  A couple of late threes by Thayer made it closer, Oran won 45-39.  The Eagles made 10-13 from the charity stripe in the fourth.

Todd Priggel led the Eagles with 11 points all from the line and had a team-highs with eight rebounds and four assists.  Tyson Goodale and Cooper Priggel each had 10.  Priggel had two from beyond the arc.

Ty Johnson had eight with two threes.  Langdon Scheeter had six with one trey.

They were 16-24 from the line for 66.7%. They were 7 of 21 from inside the arc for 33.3% and 5 of 14 from beyond for 35.7%.  The Eagles were outrebounded 28-27 but committed 11 turnovers while forcing 13. 

Coach Joe Shoemaker said, "We beat a young but very well-coached talented team. I thought when we controlled the boards and sped them up with our pressure defense it was a big difference in the game. They were able to take away some of our options on offense but to our guys' credit, we were able to get other options and hit some big shots. I am also proud once again of our team's defensive effort on one of their best players #22 Jordan Andrews and holding him to 5 points in the second half and scoreless in the fourth quarter. 

I also want to thank the community for the great support. It is awesome to see a sea of blue cheering us on at the games!

We now get to go to the final four and travel with the girls team and make some great memories."

An interesting trivia tidbit; one of Thayer's top players #22 Jordan Andrews is the son of former Eagle coach Jason Andrews, who was head coach in the 2004-2005 season.  He is now the elementary principal at Thayer.

The 26-5 boys will now face the 29-2 Skyline Tigers in the Hammond student center at 6:20 on Friday, March 13th.