The Blair Oaks Lady Falcons stole a win Saturday at the Central Bank Shootout.
Literally.
Booke Boessen knocked away a loose ball that was stolen by Halie Rackers, and Bailey Rissmiller drew and foul and made 1-of-2 free throws with :01.8 left to give Blair Oaks a 49-48 win against the South Callaway Lady Bulldogs at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"It was not pretty, but that's a good team and that was a quality win," Blair Oaks coach Darren Heckman said.
After a Blair Oaks turnover with :30.0 remaining, South Callaway had possession of the ball with the score tied at 48. Raegan Brown attempted to pass the ball inside to Delaney Horstman, but Boessen knocked it away and Rackers came up with the ball.
Heckman called a timeout to avoid a jump ball call with :06.9 on the clock. It was South Callaway's third straight possession that ended in a turnover.
"For a young team, we played really, really well," South Callaway coach Darren Humphrey said. " Our young girls are going to learn from that."
Blair Oaks inbounded the ball to Rissmiller, who drove three-quarters the length of the court and drew a foul as she attacked to the basket.
"With that much time left, we were trying to get it to her and let it get downhill," Heckman said of Rissmiller. "We tried to get a ball screen, but the ball screen didn't work out.
"We told her to just try and get something, and if not, pass it off. Fortunately enough, she got to the free-throw line."
Rissmiller made the first free throw to break the tie, and since South Callaway was out of timeouts, she intentionally missed the second attempt.
The Lady Bulldogs' 60-foot heave at the buzzer was off the mark.
Blair Oaks trailed most of the game, never leading until the fourth quarter.
With four fouls on Horstman, the Lady Bulldogs' 6-foot-1 center, the Lady Falcons began to work the ball inside. Boessen scored off a lob pass with 5:00 to play, cutting South Callaway's lead to 46-41.
"That turned it, finally, for us," Heckman said.
Then Blair Oaks scored four points on one possession, benefiting from three offensive rebounds. Makenna Kliethermes scored inside with 3:44 left to make the score 46-45.
"Defensively, we probably couldn't play any better against them. We've just got to learn to rebound a little bit better," said Humphrey, whose team was outrebounded 32-23.
Kliethermes scored off a lob pass from Rissmiller to put Blair Oaks ahead 47-46 - the Lady Falcons' first lead - with 3:16 remaining.
Claire Heckman made 1-of-2 free throws, but Horstman went 2-of-2 at the line with :40 left to tie the game at 48.
South Callaway took control of the game early with its 2-3 zone defense. The Lady Bulldogs led by as many as 11 points in the first quarter and were ahead 14-5 after eight minutes.
Blair Oaks shot just 2-of-15 from the field in the first quarter, and finished the game at 34 percent.
"We'd looked stagnant, and when the shots don't go in, you get a little tentative," Heckman said.
The Lady Falcons trailed 27-21 at halftime. In the third quarter, they got within five points of the lead on four occasions, but each time South Callaway responded and stretch the lead back to eight or nine points.
Kliethermes, who scored a team-high 14 points for Blair Oaks, had a three-point play in the final minute of the third quarter. The Lady Falcons trailed 42-36 entering the fourth.
"We stayed close enough to give ourselves a chance," Heckman said.
Boessen added 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds for the Lady Falcons.
Clubb scored a game-high 19 points and Horstman added 14 points for South Callaway (15-5), which hosts St. Elizabeth on Tuesday.
Blair Oaks (15-6), which hosts Hallsville on Monday, improved to 6-0 against district foes this season. The Lady Falcons have played every team but California and North Callaway ahead of Wednesday's district seeding meeting.
"We talked about getting to that number, knowing we had three straight district opponents this week," Heckman said. "We'll go see what happens."