Story Published:
Mar 15, 2008 at 12:01 PM CST
Story Updated:
Mar 15, 2008 at 12:01 PM CST
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The two teams from the Ozarks in the Class 2 final four tournaments lost their semifinal games on Friday night. The Crane girls lost to Westran, 51-42, and the Clever boys lost to Harrisburg, 73-67. Both play third-place games on Saturday night.
Clever and Harrisburg were evenly matched for 29 minutes. Clever had a 1-point lead at the end of the third quarter, 53-52. With 3 minutes remaining, Clever was ahead 61-58. Taylor Perrigo tied it with a 3-point shot with 2:49 left.
Harrisburg then scored 5 more points on a free throw and two layups to lead 66-61 with 1:18 left. Two free throws by Clever's Jeremy Dresslaer made the margin 3 points. Clever got within two, 67-69, after two free throws by Josh Pope with :31 remaining.
Clever quickly fouled to stop the clock but Harrisburg hit 4 more free throws to seal the victory.
Clever scored more points in the paint than Harrisburg, 40-30, and more points off turnovers, 19-12, but trailed in second-chance points after offensive rebounds, 15-4. Both teams shot exactly the same from the field, 49 percent (24-29) but Harrisburg won the game at the foul line, making 21 of 26 attempts to Clever's 16 of 21 attempts. Three Bluejays fouled out, including Dresslaer, who had 21 points. Bryce Huddleston also had 21 points, along with 7 rebounds. Pope added 19 points for Clever.
Taylor led Harrisburg with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Cory Via added 18 points and Perrigo scored 15.
Clever (27-4) plays West Platte (24-7) of Weston at 9:30 Saturday night. Harrisburg (27-3) plays South Iron (30-1) of Annapolis for the title at 6:10.
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Crane let a 25-20 halftime lead get away. Westran came back to lead 37-36 at the end of three quarters and then outscored Crane 14-6 in the final quarter.
Kenzie Rowe led Crane with 14 points. Sissy Vaught had 9 points. Chelsey Neill led Crane with 6 rebounds. Crane made only 35 percent of its field goals (16 of 46, including 4 of 23 from 3-point range).
Kayla Rice led Westran with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Becca Schemmer had 15 points and 9 rebounds. Westran made only 28 percent of its field goals but dominated at the free throw line, making 22 of 31 shots, whle Crane made only 6 of 11 chances from the free throw line.
Crane (22-7) plays Clopton (22-8) of Clarksville at 7:50 Saturday for third place. Westran (30-0) plays Penney (31-0) of Hamilton for the title at 4:30.
