BY JIM HENRY
The final 10 seconds of the first half capsulized Webb City's 64-37 victory over Monett on Thursday night in the Class 4 District 12 girls basketball semifinals.
The Cardinals' Kiera Jackson made the front end of a two-shot free throw but missed the second attempt. However, the Cardinals ran down the looseball rebound at the right sideline, passed the ball to Raven Vaughn in the middle of the floor, and Vaughn drove to the basket and scored before the buzzer sounded.
"We always talk about finishing the half strong, starting the second half strong," Cardinals coach Lance Robbins said. "I thought we did both of those tonight."
Second-seeded Webb City (12-13) advances to Friday's 6 p.m. championship game against top-seeded Carl Junction (17-9), which ousted Neosho 65-44 in the second semifinal. The Bulldogs, who have reached the district final for the fifth consecutive year, beat Webb City 49-39 in their lone regular-season meeting.
The Cardinals led Monett 16-10 after the first quarter and stretched the margin to 27-14 at the intermission as the Cubs (12-14) went through an almost seven- minute scoring drought in the second stanza.
Webb City then outscored Monett 10-2 in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the second half for a 37-17 cushion.
"I thought our energy was really good tonight, not only from the players on the floor but also from our bench," Robbins said. "That's something we've talked to them about all week. Playing the 4 o'clock game, there's probably not going to be a lot of people in the stands. We're going to have to create our own energy, our own emotion. I think everybody on our team bought into that."
Abby Brownfield tallied eight first-quarter points and finished with 14 to lead the Cardinals, followed by Madeline Hayes with 12 and Vaughn with 10.
"Our three seniors (Brownfield, Hayes, Ali Vanzant) have provided us with great leadership all year long," Robbins said. "They are not ready to be done. It's a one-game season right now. Abby did a great job in the post for us. We tried to get her involved early, get her some touchesearly. She's effective scoring around the basket, and she also does a good job finding the open guards on the perimeter when she gets doubled."
Joplin Globe 02/28/2019 (Used by permission)