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Show-Me Showdown preview
By Joboo | March 12, 2008
Here we are. The last weekend of high school basketball. 8 games a day for the next 3 days & then we’re done. We’ll have to use the NCAA tourney to wean ourselves off roundball for the year. We’ve got 6 titles up for grabs with 5 Ozarks teams still alive. Class 1 plays Thursday & Friday, class 2 Friday & Saturday, and class 3 Thursday & Saturday. Let’s take a look at what’s ahead for our Ozarks teams.
CLASS 1
- Girls - Thur at 10:40 AM - #2 Cairo (26-3) vs Macks Creek (22-6)
The Lady Pirates are definitely coming in under the radar as the only team not ranked in the final four. But they’re not as big of an underdog as they may seem having not lost to another class 1 team all year. The Cairo Lady Bearcats made the trip to Columbia last year placing fourth. They return most of that team, most importantly 6′2″ senior Brandie Roberts who can simply dominate games from the inside on both ends of the court. Outside shooting will be key for the Lady Pirates to try to keep the inside game available. Macks Creek coach Steve Rissler has indicated that he feels Cairo’s guards are prone to turnovers & plans to press. Those two factors make guards Kyla Rice, Heather Brown, & Toria Blecher the key players for Macks Creek.
- Boys - Thur at 2:00 PM - #3 Glasgow (28-2) vs #9 Fair Play (28-2)
It’s the battle of the bugs as the Hornets take on the Yellow Jackets. Glasgow is led by the inside/outside duo of guard Jay Lee & center Ben Meyer. They like to score & score a lot if possible. Junior guard Lee has already scored over 2,000 points, averages 30.1 ppg, and needs to be held in check. Not shut down totally as no one has done that this year, just not allowed to go wild. Fair Play’s balanced scoring & aggressive defense are the recipe that has frustrated the Yellow Jackets in their 2 losses this year. The Hornets may even want to try to reign in their scoring tendencies to focus on tight defense. This should be a fantastic game.
CLASS 2
- Girls - Fri at 6:10 PM - #1 Westran (29-0) vs Crane (22-6)
Crane has the unenviable task of taking on the Casey Garrison of class 2 in Kayla Rice. Rice, headed to Wichita State, has a career high 37 points & 8 assists in leading Westran past #5 Smithton 66-57 in their quarterfinal game. She is capable of scoring in bunches, but prefers to get her teammates involved & is the key to Westran’s success. They also sport a sniper in Becca Schemmer who is the main beneficiary of teams being overly attentive to Rice. Miranda Vaught has been on a roll that must continue for the Lady Pirates to advance. To win, they must get strong secondary scoring from someone like Kenzie Rowe. And they’ll have to show their best defensive effort of the season. Crane is a good team & has a chance, but Westran deserves their #1 ranking more than any other team in the state.
- Boys - Fri at 9:30 PM - #3 Harrisburg (26-3) vs #5 Clever (27-3)
Harrisburg makes their third straight trip to Columbia and their 6th trip to the final four overall. Clever is making their second appearance and first since 1956. Hmm, advantage Harrisburg. But the Blue Jays have faced some strong adversity this year & are primed to keep on playing. The Bulldogs play uptempo ball & are not opposed to running the score up. They also can give up a bunch of points to teams that are good offensively. But being 4-2 in games decided by 6 points or less, they’ll take their chances. Clever matches up well here as both teams have good height. So if they can keep their turnovers down, they have an excellent chance to move on to the final.
CLASS 3
- Girls - Thur at 4:30 PM - St. Louis Metro (20-10) vs #8 Skyline (27-3)
Do not let the records fool you, this should be a tough game. Metro is a defending 2 time state champion (class 2 in 2006, class 3 in 2007) making it’s fifth straight trip to the final four. Look at who they’ve lost to & you see a host of teams that were in Columbia last weekend. Meanwhile, Skyline makes it’s first trip back since 04 when they won the second of back-to-back state titles. The Lady Panthers like to play defense and it’s the key to their fortunes. In their wins they’ve given up just over 30 ppg. In their losses, 57.5 ppg. They live or die by forcing turnovers & making steals, period. Quite simply if Maci Wisdom, Ashley Roberts, & the rest of the Lady Tigers can handle Metro’s pressure, they win. If not, hello 3rd place game.
Topics: Basketball, Show Me Showdown |