Friday, March 6, 2020

The road less traveled.

A lot of schools feel fortunate to win an occasional district title.  For the Oran High School boys and girls teams, this will be the second-straight year that both squads have advanced to the quarterfinal round of the state playoffs.

Tuesday marked the fourth-consecutive trip the two teams had made to the sectional round.  Although the Eagles won both contests they were in polar opposite fashion.

The Lady Eagles led from start to finish including 38-11 after one and 63-18 at the break on their way to a 97-35 rout.  The boys, on the other hand, trailed most of the way before taking the lead late and won 59-57.

In the opener,   Kaylee Payne led all scorers with 28 points.  She also dished out eight assists and hit four three-pointers.  Katie Webb finished with 26 points.  Traci Hency added 11 points as the Lady Eagles controlled the post-play all night long.  

Grace Davis had nine, Hope Woodfin scored six as did Heather Gosche.  Haley Webb scored four.  Mallory Lowes, Emma Priggel and Sam Welter had two apiece.  Paige Bradley added a free throw.

They were 13-21 from the line for 61.9%, they were 36-63 from inside the arc for 57.1% and beyond 4 of 12 for 33.3%.

Coach Larry Boshell said, "I felt we executed in all phases of our game.  We were able to play fast but under control at the same time.  We were able to feed the post well most of the night and our post players finished strong.  Our guards did a very good job of keeping the ball moving, getting it inside and hitting the open shots when they were there.  Defensively, I felt we were fundamentally sound most of the time and we did a few different things throughout the night on the defensive end. "

The Lady Eagles improved to 24-5 and will face Thayer on Saturday at 1 pm in Sikeston.  Last year Thayer ended the Lady Eagles season as Thayer went on to win the state title.

Boshell said of the upcoming game, "We have our work cut out for us Saturday with Thayer as they are very well-coached, very fundamental and they won the state tournament last year so it will be tough.  We are going to prepare and come Saturday go play another basketball game."

In the nightcap, Oran led 16-15 late in the first but gave up a three at the buzzer and trailed 18-16 entering the second.  Oran was behind 35-29 at the intermission and trailed by as much as 9 about halfway through the third, 43-34. After three it was 51-49 Brentwood.  Oran tied it at 55 and again at 57. As Oran had the ball they decided to hold it and try to force Brentwood out of their zone. After a missed shot and a Brentwood rebound,  Ty Johnson took a charge at the other end to get the ball back.  Once again Coach Joe Shoemaker decided to take the air out of it and force Brentwood to make a decision. Finally, Brentwood decided to force the action.  When they did Langdon Scheeter passed the ball to a scoreless Cooper Priggel on the left-wing.  Priggel dribbled back toward the top of the key.  A Brentwood defender went for the steal but was called for the foul and after a time out, Cooper went to the line for a one and bonus.  He swished the first, then, on the second,  it bounced from the front of the rim to the backboard before going through the hoop.  Brentwood got off a shot from the right-wing that clanged off the rim and Tyson Goodale swatted it away to seal a 59-57 victory and advance Oran to the Quarterfinals at Sikeston on Saturday at 2;45 pm where they too will face Thayer (22-5).

Goodale led all scorers with 21 points.   Johnson and  Scheeter had 14 each Johnson had four treys and Scheeter two.

Todd Priggel had eight points and eight assists and Cooper Priggel added his two free throws.

Oran improved to 25-5.  They were outrebounded by the bigger Brentwood boys 25-18 but committed only 10 turnovers while forcing 16.

From inside the arc, Oran hit 16-23 for 69.6%.  From beyond they were 6 of 21 for 28.6%.  At the line, they made 11 of 15 or 73.3%.

Coach Joe Shoemaker said, "We were able to escape with a win.  We had some players make big plays at the end of the game which was huge.  We also had two players off of the bench that gave us valuable minutes which allowed us to be in the position we were at the end of the game.  I also want to give a shout out to the other players on the bench who have been working hard in practice to prepare us for these games but don't get the glory of playing time on game night.  Without these efforts, it does not happen.  
We faced a team that had two players that gave us matchup nightmares and I was proud of our players for fighting and never giving up.  One of these players is an all-state player who is the second leading scorer out of all classes in St. Louis and we held him to 4 points in the last three quarters.  I was super proud of this effort."


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