Saxony Lutheran girls basketball team wins fourth straight Delta New Year's title

DELTA, Mo. -- You'd be hard pressed to find two area girls teams playing better basketball through the first two months of the season than Saxony Lutheran and Oran, but when the two clashed in the championship of the Delta New Year's Tournament on Thursday, it was clear which was the more seasoned side.

A veteran, top-seeded Crusaders squad went on a 17-0 first-half run, holding the second-seeded Eagles without a point for a stretch of seven and a half minutes, and controlled the title game nearly from the opening tip, defeating Oran 52-30.

"They've got some good players and a good team and we were wary of that," Saxony Lutheran coach Sam Sides said. "We had them on the ropes early and I thought we were going to put them away, but to their credit they didn't break.

"When it came down to it, I thought our execution on defense and our energy was great. We did a good job on the defensive boards, turned them over and tried to keep them from getting easy buckets. For the most part we did that."

A veteran Saxony Lutheran (10-2) group made Oran (9-1) look like what they are -- a team relying heavily on some freshmen -- as it handed the Eagles their first loss of the season and made them look like a tentative side, not a team that has mostly had its way this campaign. The 30 points was a season low for Oran, which had not scored less than 54 points in a game.

Saxony Lutheran fans cheer during the championship game against Oran in the Delta New Year's Tournament.

"You hit the nail on the head -- we were tentative," Oran coach Ethan Evans said. "We didn't attack and get in there and get after it. *... Look at the stats at halftime and we had 12 shots. We were shooting 62 percent [but] took 12 shots. I don't know how that happens. Well, I know how it happens -- good defense -- but I don't know how we let that happen."

Saxony Lutheran senior Brianna Mueller led all players with 18 points, while Grace Mirly added 17. Ashlynn Collier was a key presence for the Crusaders in the post, pulling down 10 rebounds and limiting Oran's ability to find success in the paint.

"Ashlynn, she sat out most of [last] year because she had a knee injury. She's a tough, hard-nosed player and we need her," Sides said. "I complimented her in front of the whole team -- I thought that was one of the better game's she's played. Defensively she was there, rebounding she was there and she stepped up. She elevated her game tonight, I thought, and I was really happy for her."

Leah Cauble, one of the key freshman, scored 16 for Oran. Jessie Long -- the other freshman starter -- was held to six points, all in the fourth quarter. Ashlyn McIntosh also scored six points for the Eagles.

"Our young girls, Leah played a pretty good game but she made some mistakes she usually doesn't do," Evans said. "We just didn't get any kind of inside game going with Jessie. She seemed a little tentative.

Saxony Lutheran's Brianna Mueller drives past Oran's Claire Ramsey during the first quarter of the championship game in the Delta New Year's Tournament Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 in Delta, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

"But they are a seasoned team -- a very good team -- and they play great defense. You think somebody's open, and then somebody slides down [to help]. It's just frustrating."

Oran took a 5-4 advantage at the four-minute mark of the first quarter when Cauble hit an NBA-range 3-pointer, but it was the last time that the Eagles led. It was also the last time they would score until nearly midway through the second quarter.

During that time, Saxony Lutheran took control of the contest. Tess Daniel scored on a conventional three-point play off a steal to get things started and to give the Crusaders the lead for good, 7-5. Collier had back-to-back buckets to extend the advantage before Mueller found Daniel on a backdoor cut and she finished a reverse layup for a 13-5 lead going into the second quarter.

Daniel scored seven points in the game before leaving with an ankle injury with 4:10 left in the third quarter.

Mirly opened the second period with back-to-back baskets, and a minute and half later hit a short floater in the lane to put the Crusaders up 21-5 with 5:05 left in the second.

Oran came out of a timeout and Cauble ended the scoreless drought, but by then the Eagles were trying to play catchup and facing a large deficit.

Cauble attempted just four shots in the first quarter, while Long had no looks at the basket.

"We try to put three people on the ball all the time. *... We try to really help on the ball, and if we leave someone open really scramble," Sides said. "A few times we got lost, but most of the time we cut them off before they got to the paint. That was our main strategy -- to keep them from getting to the free-throw line."

The strategy worked. Besides shooting just 37 percent from the field (13 of 35), Oran was also only 3 of 7 from the charity stripe.

Saxony Lutheran, meanwhile, shot 22 of 41 (53.7 percent) from the field and hit 6 of 6 free throws.

Oran was able to make a slight push late in the first half, but only enough to essentially maintain the deficit, as the Crusaders went into the locker room up 27-13.

Cauble hit a pair of shots early in the third to cut the gap to just 10 points, 29-19, with 6:31 to go in the quarter, but Mueller got the ball to Daniel for a layup and then got two baskets herself in transition to push out to a 35-19 lead.

Mueller got the next two buckets for Saxony and Mirly made a jump shot late in the period as the top seed went into the final eight minutes of play with a 22-point advantage, 43-21.

That differential stuck at the end, though the Crusaders pushed it to as much as 25 points thanks to a three-point play by Mirly with 3:28 left in the game.

Saxony is back on the floor hosting Lutheran North on Saturday.

Oran's next game will come in the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament in Chaffee. The Eagles are the No. 1 seed and will face No. 8 Scott City on Tuesday.

The Crusaders and Eagles will challenge each other again Jan. 18 in Oran.

Oran 5 10 6 9 -- 30

Saxony Luth. 13 14 16 19 -- 52

ORAN (30) -- Brianna Stause 2, Ashlyn McIntosh 6, Leah Cauble 16, Jessie Long 6. FG 13-35, FT 3-7, F 5. (3-pointers: Cauble. Fouled out: None.)

SAXONY LUTHERAN (52) -- Grace Mirly 17, Ali Galemmo 2, Brianna Mueller 18, Tess Daniel 7, Maddie Brune 2, Ashlynn Collier 4, Masyn McWilliams 2. FG 22-41, FT 6-6, F 9. (3-pointers: Mueller 2. Fouled out: None.)