WASHBURN, MO. -- The Blackhawks and Lady Blackhawks demonstrated they deserved their high seeds as they pounded both their opponents in the first round of the 34th annual Southwest Holiday Tournament in Washburn.
Coach Heath Neal's 2nd seeded Lady 'Hawks got the ball rolling by stealing and hustling their way to 52-29 victory over 3rd seeded Galena. The top seeded boys team kept up the pace with a one sided 74-18 shellacking of Exeter following the girls game.
The girls win put them in the championship round at 6:30 pm tomorrow, December 29th at the Washburn gym. The boys played Cassville yesterday, and if they won, they would advance to the championship round tomorrow with either Forsyth or Gentry the likely opponent. That game would start at 8:00.
Game summaries
Lady Blackhawks 52, Galena 29
The Lady Blackhawks' quickness and jumping ability made short work of the Galena Bulldogs, recording 12 steals in the first period and allowing no field goals.
Sophomore Hollyn Davis set the tone early by stealing the ball from a Bulldog guard then recording the first points on a layup just 20 seconds into the game. A few moments later, Davis made a superb pass to Maggie Fletcher who laid it in for a 4-0 lead. Fletcher returned the favor on the next possession, stealing the ball and flipping to an alert Davis who scored again for a 6-0 with 6:12 left in the first.
The sixth 'Hawk steal led to a 3-point attempt by Jennifer Anthony, who ripped the cords for a 9-0 lead. A minute later, Avery Dayberry picked off a Bulldog pass and hit Davis under the backboard, with the sophomore guard scoring for an 11-0 lead. Anthony then dropped in another shot from downtown followed by a steal and layup by the senior guard to blow up the lead to 16-0 with 3 seconds left in the quarter. A desperation shot was launched by the Bulldogs Ashley Greenway, who was fouled as the buzzer sounded. She canned both shots to put Galena on the board.
Coach Heath Neal began substituting freely to start the second period, and while the Bulldogs still had not recorded their first field goal, they did sink four of six free throws to close the gap a bit, trailing 16-6. Maria Socha scored the 'Hawks' first points of the second quarter with a free throw, and after an Anthony steal and layup was followed by a score on a putback by Allison Whatley, the 'Hawks led 21-6 with 2:57 left in the half.
The 'Hawk defense would go on to not allow a single field goal by the Bulldogs in the first half, with a steal and score by Davis, two buckets underneath by Whatley and a layup by Kiley West in the final seconds pushing the score by intermission to an overwhelming 27-6.
Fletcher opened the scoring in the second half, with Whatley throwing in a rebound shot. A steal by Anthony and pass to a sprinting Dayberry led to a score, with Fletcher scoring again at the 5:00 minute mark to boost the lead to 35-6. Galena's Greenway finally broke the Bulldogs scoring drought as she made a 3-pointer with 4:44 showing. A Davis steal and lead pass to West resulted in another field goal and a 37-9 lead, whereupon Neal replaced the whole lineup with reserves.
Melissa Landis scored twice with West adding another score, but the Bulldogs finally got something going in the last 3 minutes of the third period, Megan Caulfield scored on a 7-footer with Mary Yocom scoring on a 5-footer and a trey, and with Abby Rice's 3 pointer, Galena kept the game from getting into the mercy category but shrinking the 'Hawk advantage to 43-19 going into the fourth quarter.
Catherine Hooten started the quarter with a rebound score and then Socha dropped in a trey to balloon the lead to 48-19, one point from a 30-point lead and triggering the mercy rule. Galena responded with a free throw by Caulfield and a pair of freebies by Katie Lebow, and after Greenway hit another trey, the Bulldogs trailed by just 23 at 48-25. The 'Hawks' Socha hit two buckets in the waning moments of the game with Caulfield's layup and free throws finishing the score with the 'Hawks earning a 52-29 victory.
The 'Hawks stole the ball a dozen times in the first quarter, and their opponent made but seven field goals total against more than 25 turnovers by game's end.
Unofficial scoring for the 'Hawks was Anthony, 10; Fletcher, 8; Socha, 8; Fletcher, Whatley and West, 6 each; Landis, 4; and Dayberry and Hooten, 2 each.
Blackhawks 74, Exeter Tigers 18
Coach Trent Loyd lauded his team's effort in a game that was likely to be noncompetitive from the get-go.
"They were focused and put energy and effort into the game," Loyd said. "It would have been easy to have gotten sloppy and gotten into some bad habits but they played well throughout."
The 'Hawks played lights out defense in the entire first half, allowing the Tigers but a single field goal in each of the first two quarters. Ethan Caddell hit 3-pointers for Exeter's only offense.
Joey Hall would exceed Exeter's first half total in just the first 2 minutes of play, opening the game with a pair of treys and two of two free throw shooting. A subsequent shot underneath by Matt Thomas and a single free throw would establish an 11-0 lead for the 'Hawks. After the Tigers made their 3-pointer, Thomas dropped in a pair of layups with Cole Wright adding one for a 17-3 lead with 2:56 showing.
Wright would score on another layup on the next possession, with Hall slicing through for a pair of layups along with Thomas' under and over layup. Weston Church pulled off a steal in the final seconds and flipped a pass to Hayden Holtgrewe who scored to give Pea Ridge a massive 27-3 lead at the end of the quarter.
Church started the second period with a steal and layup, followed by an assist from Holtgrewe to Mike Mahoney that led to a layup. The sophomore forward was fouled in the attempt and he ripped the charity to boost the lead to 32-3. Hall tipped in a missed shot and the Tigers' Caddell made his second trey for Exeter moments later. The 'Hawks then attacked the basket for the rest of the second quarter with Britton Caudill, Thomas and Holtgrewe making layups. Thomas added a free throw and Caudill scored in the paint for the half's last score with Pea Ridge comfortably leading the Tigers, 47-6.
As weak as the TIiger offense was in the first half, it slipped even further in the third quarter as they failed to hit a field goal. Only Jared Alverson's lone free was all Exeter could put on the board.
Meanwhile, Church started the half with a trey with Thomas and Caudill adding layups. Mahoney sunk and a layup and two free throws before the Tigers could score as the 'Hawks led 58-6.
The 'Hawk reserves were flooding but the scoring did not abate as Carson Rhine and Garrett King hit from downtown with Garrett scoring on a layup before the buzzer to head into the final quarter leading 66-7.
Garret connected on another layup and the 'Hawks got three buckets underneath by Denver Yates to provide all the 'Hawks' offense in the final period. Exeter hit a pair of treys and were five of five from the free throw line to score 11 points in the fourth quarter. Neither team could score for the last 3 minutes as the mercy rule was in effect and the clock quickly ran out on the one-sided affair.
Hall and Thomas led the 'Hawk scoring with 14 each, with Caudill adding 8, Mahoney 7, King 7, Yates 6, Holtgrewe 6, Church 5, Wright 4, and Rhine 3.
Sports on 12/28/2016