WARDSVILLE - It was the supporting cast's time to shine.
With the sixth-seeded Hallsville Lady Indians focusing their attention on LeeAnn Polowy, a Missouri State signee, it was the rest of the third-seeded Blair Oaks Lady Falcons who picked up the scoring slack en route to a 55-27 victory Monday night in the first round of the Class 3 District 8 Tournament.
Sure, Polowy still got her 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting. But it was Lauren Viessman's 21 points and Chelsi Emerson's 15 points, along with a strong team defensive effort, that sent Blair Oaks into Wednesday's semifinals against California. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. in Wardsville.
"We got some other girls involved, which was great," Blair Oaks head coach Leroy Bernskoetter said. "That makes us tougher yet."
Viessman didn't miss a shot until late in the fourth quarter, with the game well in hand. The junior guard finished 7-of-8 from the field, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
"I don't know if she ever hardly missed," Bernksoetter said. "She was on fire tonight."
Polowy was hounded all over the court, especially in the first half. The senior guard attempted just four shots in the opening 16 minutes, and didn't have a chance to take any of her favorite 3-point shots.
"Sometimes we have to just be ready for that," Bernskoetter said. "Sometimes we are, sometimes we aren't. Tonight I think Chelsi Emerson stepped up and made some good ones. ... We play that way it makes us hard to defend. If you don't come out and play super tough on LeeAnn, that means they have to worry about other ones. That's why I think this game got lopsided."
Emerson scored 11 of her 15 points in the opening half. Blair Oaks led 13-5 after one quarter and 22-15 at halftime.
That's when the Lady Falcons started to pull away.
Blair Oaks didn't allow Hallsville to score until Jordan Dinyer hit a layup with 1:17 left in the third quarter, ending a scoring drought of 8 minutes, 23 seconds.
"The girls did a great job of playing good team defense and did a really good job of taking away certain things," Bernskoetter said.
By that point, Blair Oaks' advantage was up to 33-17. The Lady Falcons took a 35-17 edge into the final quarter. Polowy scored eight points in the third.
"I don't know how many assists she gets with everyone keying on her," Bernskoetter said of Polowy. "Sometimes teams we see are trying to stay in and stop us from scoring. She still was able to get in the paint and create things and get some buckets. But then she also was able to make some great passes to girls. That just makes us really hard (to guard)."
It was more of the same in the fourth stanza.
Ahead 42-25 with 4:32 to go, Blair Oaks scored the next 13 points to blow the game open.
Viessman scored 11 points in the final frame.
Dinyer led Hallsville (12-12) with 13 points and 12 rebounds. The Lady Indians went just 10-of-42 (24 percent) from the field. Players not named Dinyer went 5-of-31 (16 percent).
"(She) gets the ball in the open floor, she's tough," Bernskoetter said.
Now Blair Oaks (19-7) gets another game with California. The Lady Falcons claimed a 63-60 win last Thursday at California.
"There's not going to be anything easy anymore," Bernskoetter said. "They are all going to be tough from here on out. You just have to be ready to play. We've been playing pretty good the last few weeks. Hopefully we have a couple more game in us."