The Warrenton Lady Warriors used a pair of fourth quarter three pointers by Kendall Taylor and a late rebound and pair of free throws from Zoe Klaus to defeat St. Dominic High School 45-41 in Friday’s Class 5, District 4 final at Warrenton High School.
With under 20 seconds left in regulation, the Warrenton Lady Warriors held a slim one-point lead, 42-41. After a St. Dominic foul, Warrenton senior Dana Pruitt made her first free throw attempt to extend Warrenton’s lead to two points, 43-41. Pruitt missed the second free throw attempt but Klaus gathered the rebound and was fouled.
“My whole mind was on get that rebound,” Klaus said. “It was just grit. Just who wanted it more.”
She hit two free throws, including the front end of a one and one to give Warrenton a four-point lead with 17.2 seconds left.
“I work on my shooting in practice and I came in clutch,” Klaus said.
The score would stand to give Warrenton their fifth district title in eight years.
Warrenton coach Greg Williams noted the importance of the rebound and two free throws.
“Zoe, just a huge rebound,” Williams said. “She’s just tough. She just comes in the morning. She shoots her free throws. It’s no wonder she just went up and made them.”
After a close third quarter that ended with Warrenton holding a slim two-point lead, the Lady Warriors were able to extend their lead to eight with 4:08 left in the game. With Warrenton holding a 34-33 fourth quarter lead, Taylor hit back to back three-point shots to give the Warriors a seven point lead.
Taylor said her focus was to make sure she was ready to step up and contribute if the team needed her to do so, which she was able to do.
“It was exciting to come in and take off some of the stress of other players. Lift us up,” she said.
Taylor’s two three-pointers were a big separation in the game, Williams said.
St. Dominic was able to trim the lead to six with one free throw, but Warrenton extended the lead to 42-34 with 4:08 left with a two-point basket by senior Garneisha Love.
St. Dominic called a timeout and responded with a quick 5-0 run to force Warrenton Coach Greg Williams to call timeout with 2:38 left and Warrenton clinging to a 42-39 lead.
St. Dominic freshman Audrey Blaine scored a two-point basket to trim the Lady Warrior lead to six points. Senior Delaney Smith added a three-point basket to cut the lead to three. St. Dominic further trimmed the lead after the Warrenton timeout to 42-41 on a two-point basket by Blaine.
“We want to chew up a little clock,” Williams said. “Use a little false motion and maybe get a layup. We don’t need to shoot threes. I think we were trying to get lucky there. We went to the Hail Mary offense. That’s never going to work. That doesn’t work.”
With the lead cut to one, the Lady Warriors then attempted to run the clock out. St. Dominic eventually committed their seventh foul with 18.9 seconds left, forcing Warrenton to the free throw line. Williams was surprised St. Dominic allowed the Lady Warriors to run off so much clock, especially since St. Dominic had only comitted four team fouls and needed to reach seven team fouls to force Warrenton to the free throw line.
“We didn’t really run it well but we just kind of played around with it and got it done,” Williams said. “I think we chewed up over a minute which was huge.”
After three made free throws, Warrenton claimed the 45-41 lead they would not relinquish.
Williams believes the Lady Warriors’ run to end the first half was a big moment in the game. The Lady Warriors ended the half on a 7-0 run to lead 23-22 at halftime. Kaelyn Meyer scored a two-point basket at the end of the half to give Warrenton the lead heading into halftime.
“We had some breakdowns defensively that we shouldn’t have but again we weren’t really talking through,” Williams said. “We’re kind of in double help and stuff that we just can’t do. We left some players open. Didn’t rebound and really thought we played their half the first half. And to come out with a one-point lead, that was a big bucket right before the buzzer.”
Warrenton is scheduled to square off against defending Class 5 state champion Whitfield High School Saturday. Whitfield won last year’s state championship over West Plains High School. They won the game 50-34. Whitfield defeated MICDS 55-34 in this year’s Class 5, District 3 final to advance to Saturday’s state quarterfinal matchup with Warrenton.
The game will be played at 6 p.m. at the St. Louis Community College Meramec Campus. No tickets will be sold at the door. All tickets are electronic tickets and can be purchased at mshsaa.org. Admission is $7.