SPRINGFIELD - The Tipton Lady Cardinals are the only semifinal team not ranked in the top 10 in Class 2. They didn't play like it Friday night.
The Lady Cardinals swarmed the fifth-ranked Blue Eye Lady Bulldogs and got out in transition on offense in a 58-43 victory in their first state semifinal game in program history at Hammons Student Center.
"We said this whole time that coming down here to the Final Four we weren't just coming down here to play, we were coming down here to win," Tipton senior Abby Backes said.
Tipton (26-5) will face second-ranked East Buchanan (28-3) at 3:30 p.m. today in the state championship game.
East Buchanan defeated eighth-ranked Oran 66-37 in the other semifinal.
"It's just a storybook ending," Tipton coach Jason Culpepper said. "You just couldn't write it any better way. If we're able to come out tomorrow and execute, do our jobs, it will be an even better finish to the story."
Tipton trailed in the early going, falling behind 3-1. But Tipton took the lead on an Alexa Jurgensmeyer free throw to make it 6-5. The Lady Cardinals didn't trail the rest of the way, with the final tie being at 18 when Blue Eye's Riley Arnold knocked down a 3-pointer from the wing with 5:17 left in the second quarter.
Tipton led 26-20 at halftime and 31-20 just 1:30 into the second half thanks to a Jurgensmeyer 3 from the wing and a second-chance basket by Briar Cox. Cox dominated on the glass with a game-high 14 rebounds to give Tipton second-chance opportunities and keep Blue Eye, which shot 3-of-24 from beyond the arc, from getting multiple shots at the other end.
Cox also scored 14 points as the 5-foot-10 soft-spoken freshman shot 7-of-13.
"That's pretty impressive," Culpepper said. " She gets after it. She provides an inside presence on both ends, gives us extra possessions whenever we miss shots or we make a silly pass."
The margin reached 14 at 45-31 by the end of the third quarter, with Backes finishing off the quarter's scoring with a layup.
Tipton's largest lead came after a pair of Backes free throws to make it 55-37 with 2:14 left. Backes scored nine of her 15 points at the free-throw line.
Jurgensmeyer tied for a team-high 15 points to go with eight rebounds.
Tipton made it difficult for Blue Eye's leading scorer on the season, 5-7 senior Kohnnar Patton, to get easy looks inside or out. Patton, who averages more than 21 points per game, finished with 15 points and six rebounds.
"I thought we did a really good job of trying to make her shoot the toughest shot she could," Culpepper said.
With the third-place game being canceled because of coronavirus concerns, Blue Eye finishes the season at 27-5.