Walnut Grove defeats Naylor for Class 1 girls title

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Raylie Hejna scored 17 points and Audree Crain added 12 to lead Walnut Grove to a third consecutive Class 1 girls championship with a 48-45 win against Naylor on Saturday.

Walnut Grove (31-1) led for all but 32 seconds but watched Naylor's Gracie Gargac drain a 3-pointer with 51 ticks left to narrow the Lady Eagles' deficit to 45-44. Gargac then had a chance to tie the game with two free throw attempts and 10.9 seconds remaining, but missed the first.

Walnut Grove's Bayley Harman answered with two free throws a second later, causing the Lady Eagles' Shayna Tharp to heave a desperation 3-point attempt at the buzzer. It missed, and the Tigers immediately huddled together to start celebrating.

Tharp finished with 11 points while Kabrien Rogers added 10 for Naylor (23-7), which made its first-ever title appearance.