Coach Butch Clark knew exactly what foe his Liberty Christian girls basketball team would need to beat in order to proclaim state dominance last week during the Missouri Christian Schools Athletic …
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Coach Butch Clark knew exactly what foe his Liberty Christian girls basketball team would need to beat in order to proclaim state dominance last week during the Missouri Christian Schools Athletic Association Tournament in Joplin.
And he knew the Eagles could beat Blue Ridge, given the results from a regular-season matchup.
But with the stakes much higher last Saturday, Clark’s team found itself on the mat early in this matchup of state powerhouses. Blue Ridge established an early lead it would never relinquish during a 53-47 rematch victory.
“I think we had a lot better game in us than we played yesterday,” lamented Clark. “But we didn’t show up to play yesterday, and that’s when the game was played.”
The Eagles fell behind by 20 in the first half and could never claw within closer than six, despite improved defense and a determined second-half run.
“It’s disappointing, because we had aimed all year to get back to that game and have a chance to redeem ourselves, but we came out and played probably the worst half of basketball we’ve played all year.”
Blue Ridge hurried out to a 9-0 lead, before the Liberty Christian could gain its composure. The Eagles trailed 12-6 after one quarter.
“The second quarter was a disaster,” said Clark. “We didn’t establish anything inside and turned the ball over 17 times in the first half. The bad part is that several of them led to buckets.”
Blue Ridge took advantage of turnovers with its transition scoring, having its momentum only temporarily stifled by a three-pointer at the buzzer. The trey closed the gap to 28-11 for the Eagles at halftime.
“We had a poor game taking care of the ball, and they’re the type of team that feasts off that,” said Clark. “They crash the boards well, but we didn’t do a good job on our end of the court, and they took advantage of that.”
Clark says his team played well defensively when given the opportunity but often found itself racing back in transition, rather than setting up in the halfcourt.
“We came out in the third quarter and made a run at them,” said Clark. “Every time we had a chance in the second half to seriously get back in the game, we had a turnover. It seemed like every time we made a mistake it killed us.”
Leading the way for the Eagles was Andrea Mueller with 12 points and six rebonds, while Adison Roden added 11 points.
Liberty Christian ended the season 29-2, having lost its only other matchups to public schools.
Earning a selection on the all-state first team were Mueller and Alli Meyer.
Roden was named to the second team.
In order to advance to the championship, the Eagles defeated North County Christian 74-14 on Thursday and held off Christian Fellowship 28-18 in a defensive battle on Friday.
Mueller scored 16 against North County and collected 13 points and 10 rebounds in the semifinal. Anna Meyer netted a team-high 19 points in the opener, while Alli Meyer grabbed 13 boards.
