MOUNTAIN GROVE – The Houston Lady Tigers survived and advanced. And in the postseason, that’s what matters most.
HHS got a critical defensive stop in the final minute and senior Kylee Emore followed with two key free throws as the Lady Tigers edged Willow Springs 55-52 Wednesday night in the semifinals of the Class 3 District 10 Tournament.
“The kids did enough to pull it out,” Houston coach Brent Kell said.
The victory sets up a championship matchup with rival and top-seeded Licking at 5 p.m. Saturday night. The Lady Wildcats advanced through the semis with a 44-22 win against Mountain Grove.
Licking is the two-time defending district champions with their most recent title a convincing 59-30 win against Houston in last year’s finale.
“We wanted to play Licking one more time and just give it a shot and see what happens,” Kell said. “They are an awfully tough team, but we’ll be ready.”
Similar to their district opener, the Lady Tigers (18-9) were able to overcome a sluggish start. They trailed 18-11 early in the second quarter and were behind by six at the beginning of the third quarter before pulling even to set up a tight finish.
Houston was clinging to a 53-52 lead when Willow Springs got a defensive steal and called timeout with 35.8 seconds remaining in the game. The Lady Bears tried to get the ball to center Shilo Letterman on the right block, but it was poked away by Sarah Kelley and chased down by Abby Casper.
Willow Springs fouled Elmore and she sank both free throws to put Houston ahead by three with 17.1 seconds left.
The Lady Tigers, who had three team fouls at the moment, intentionally committed two fouls as Willow Springs advanced the ball to halfcourt and called timeout. The Lady Bears inbounded the ball to Kyla Hutsell, who had three 3-pointers, but she was forced into an off-balance shot that was rebounded by Kelley as the clock expired.
“Hats off to them. They played well, were prepared and had kids step up that I hadn’t seen perform that way,” Kell said. “We had hurt their pride on their homecourt earlier in the year when we beat them by 21. They really wanted us bad. We thought it would come down to this.”
Kelley led four HHS players in double figures with 14 points. Casper scored 13, Jaydin Ramsey had 12 and Elmore added 11.
Letterman scored a game-high 18 points to lead Willow Springs. Beth Sherbo added 14 and Hutsell had 11.
Kell singled out the play of Ramsey, who along with Casper were the only HHS players to score points in all four quarters.
“I thought she played her best game of the year,” he said.
BOX SCORE
Willow Springs 12 13 15 12 – 52
Houston 9 17 18 11 – 55
WILLOW SPRINGS (52) – Crewse 2. Cox 5. Hutsell 11. Sherbo 14. Perkins 2. Letterman 18. FG 19. FT 5-8. F 8. (3-pointers: Hutsell 3. Fouled out: none).
HOUSTON (55) – Kylee Elmore 11. Shelby Cremer 5. Abby Casper 13. Sarah Kelley 14. Jaydin Ramsey 12. FG 20. FT 8-10. F 10. (3-pointers: Casper 2, Kelley 2, Ramsey 2, Elmore. Fouled out: none).
Monday’s scores
First round
Licking 63, Hollister 22
Mountain Grove 41, Ava 37
Houston 63, Forsyth 46
Willow Springs 43, Liberty 42
Wednesday’s scores
Semifinals
Licking 44, Mountain Grove 22
Houston 55, Willow Springs 52
Saturday’s game
Championship
Licking (24-4) vs. Houston (18-9), 5 p.m.