Eagles race to tourney title

Last year the Oran High School girls basketball team won the Lady Devil Tournament by 14 points when the 2nd seeded Eagles upset the number 1 seed and host Chaffee, 57-43 to claim their first ever crown.  This year Oran came in as the favorites and they left no doubt they deserved that recognition after thoroughly dismantling the second-seeded Puxico Indians 85-41.  It was Puxico's first ever trip to the finals.

Oran jumped out to a 14-0 lead before the Indians got on the board at the 4:42 mark. After one, it was 19-8.  By half, the lead was out to 24, 49-25.  The Eagles added 8 to the margin in the third quarter, 73-41.  And, to add insult to injury, Puxico ended up with 41 points as Oran tossed a shutout during the final frame, outscoring the Indian 12-0 with the mercy-rule running clock in effect.

Leah Cauble had another monster night as she drained 39 points, hit 4-5 from three, 9 of 11 free throw attempts, had 7 steals and 5 assists.

She ended up not only with the records set earlier in the week, for points in a single game (48) and field goals in a single game (19), but also points for the tournament with 126, eclipsing the old mark of 93 set by Mary Glaus of Delta in 1980 and also by Tangela Turner of Scott County Central in 1985.  Both occurred before the advent of the mercy-rule clock.  Cauble also shattered the mark for most field goals in the tournament that was 40 set by Tonia Harris of SCC set in 1989, also before running clock days.  Cauble ended up with 49.

Brianna Stause connected on 4 treys and a field goal for her 14.  She also had 5 assists and 4 steals.

Stause was the only member of this year's squad that was around for the only other recent meeting between these two schools.  That was in this tournament in 2014 when the 5th seeded Indians upset the 4th seeded Eagles in the opening round.

Jessie Long had 10 points, 9 rebounds and 7 steals.  Claire Ramsey added 8 points, including 2 three's, while Kaylee Payne ended up 7 points, 6 boards and 4 assists.  Madison Ramsey hit a trey off the bench for her 3 points and Kenzie Graviett and Katelyn Streeter each tallied a field goal.

Savannah Below, Paige Bradley, Heather Gosche and Taylor Lowes also saw action.

Oran hit 60% of their shots from close range (21-35).  They were 11-27 from long range (40.7%).  From the charity stripe, they were 10-13 for 76.9%.

They are now 5-0 and will be back in action on Monday evening when they host the New Madrid County Central Eagles at 6 pm.