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Class 1 District 9 Girls Basketball Tournament Championship -- St. Elizabeth vs. Higbee
WARDSVILLE -- Ella Lucas had been in a shooting slump.
The St. Elizabeth senior isn’t anymore. She tossed in 20 points Friday night to lead the Lady Hornets to a 51-36 victory against the Higbee Lady Tigers in the title game of the Class 1 District 9 Tournament at Blair Oaks High School.
“She’s been struggling lately, to put it lightly,” St. Elizabeth coach Quentin Voss said. “She might have made two of her last 25 3-pointers.
“But there’s never a doubt she can make them, it’s just sometimes you go through slumps. But she shot very well tonight.”
Lucas finished 5-of-9 from beyond the arc Friday night, including her first two attempts as the Lady Hornets jumped out to a 20-7 lead after one quarter.
Higbee pressured St. Elizabeth from baseline to baseline for much of the contest. But the Lady Hornets were able to stay one step ahead for much of the contest, finishing with just eight turnovers.
“We’ve played against a lot of big, fast, athletic teams this season to get us ready for moments like this,” Voss said. “It paid dividends, that’s why we play the type of schedule we play.”
The pressure did get to the Lady Hornets in the second quarter. St. Elizabeth scored just two points in the final five-plus minutes of the first half as Higbee rallied from a 12-point deficit to make it 28-22 at intermission.
“We’ve had drops like that all season,” Voss said. “But our defense was locked in the entire game. We played really, really well.”
Lucas hit a 3-pointer on St. Elizabeth’s first possession of the second half to increase the lead to 31-22. The two teams swapped points the rest of the quarter, which ended with the Lady Hornets holding a 37-29 advantage.
The Lady Hornets iced the game with an 11-0 run in a four-plus minute span in the fourth quarter that turned a 39-32 lead into a 50-32 bulge with 2:02 remaining.
Reagan Wobbe had six of the points in the run for St. Elizabeth, finishing with 18 points.
“She’s a ridiculous athlete,” Voss said. “She is blessed with a lot of speed and quickness and she has the ability to take the ball to the basket for a layup or get fouled and shoot free throws.”
Isabelle Welch finished with 16 points for second-seeded Higbee (20-8).
“Higbee is a really good team,” Voss said. “These are two of the best eight or nine teams in the state.”
It’s the third consecutive district title for top-seeded St. Elizabeth (21-7), which will play Monday night at Northeast: Cairo (23-5) in the sectionals.
Voss doesn’t think the quick turnaround will be a problem.
“At this point of the year, you just watch film and get ready to go,” Voss said.
Northeast: Cairo, ranked No. 6 in Class 1 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, advanced with a 69-45 win Friday night against North Shelby in the District 10 title game.