Familiar foe for Lady Falcons in Class 4 sectional

Autumn Bax of Blair Oaks shoots a layup as Fatima's Morgan Luebbering defends during last Friday night's district title game in Owensville.
Autumn Bax of Blair Oaks shoots a layup as Fatima's Morgan Luebbering defends during last Friday night's district title game in Owensville.

There will be plenty of familiarity tonight when the Eldon Lady Mustangs head to Wardsville to face the Blair Oaks Lady Falcons in the Class 4 sectionals.

The Tri-County Conference foes will tip off at 6 p.m. with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals.

"I think sometimes you probably don't want to play someone you don't know anything about," Blair Oaks coach Brandon Moore said, "because it's a little bit harder to get some film and scout. When you see them in person it's a little bit easier to game prep for those teams."

The teams played in a back-and-forth battle Feb. 11 in Eldon, with Blair Oaks coming away with a 51-44 victory.

It was the fifth straight win against the Lady Mustangs for the Lady Falcons.

Mallorie Fick scored a game-high 19 points in that game, while Bailey Rissmiller added 14.

Haley Henderson and Taylor Henderson both scored in double figures with 18 and 14 points, respectively.

Blair Oaks (16-10) ended the conference season with a 6-1 record to finish second in the standings, while Eldon (9-15) was 1-6 in conference play to end up seventh in the standings.

Eldon reached sectionals with a District 10 championship as the No. 2 seed, defeating No. 3 seed Buffalo 62-52 and top-seeded School of the Osage 60-55.

Blair Oaks was the No. 3 seed in District 9, opening with a 55-34 win against No. 6 seed Cuba before outlasting No. 2 seed St. James 50-45 and top-seeded Fatima 39-35.

Blair Oaks has limited opponents to 44.3 points per game this season.

"We talked about just anticipating and getting to the spot," Moore said. "And when you feel like you're guarded every possession, you start to just force things a little bit. You start to get a little stagnant, we get them on their heels."

Blair Oaks averages 47.7 points per game and Eldon enters the game at a 53.5 clip.

The Lady Mustangs allow 55.1 points per game to their opponents.

Tonight's winner will face the winner of the sectional contest between Ava (21-5) and fourth-ranked Mount Vernon (25-3) on Saturday.

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