Oran girls basketball blasts past Bravettes for Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament title

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- If there was one thing the Oran girls basketball team did not go wanting for entering Thursday night's Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament championship, it was motivation. There was a tournament final loss a week ago -- the Eagles' only loss of the season. There was the search for the first conference tournament title in school history. And there was a loss to Scott County Central the last time Oran was the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.

This time, the top-seeded Eagles vanquished all of those frustrating memories, blasting past the second-seeded Bravettes 74-40 to claim the program's first Scott-Mississippi tournament championship.

"I told the girls, 'Last time we played for a tournament championship [last week against Saxony Lutheran], we lost,'" Oran coach Ethan Evans said. "We've never won this tournament in school history, and a couple of years ago we were the No. 1 seed and Scott County beat us. So we used that as motivation to get going."

It was the third time this season that Oran (12-1) has bettered Scott County Central (10-5), and there was little doubt this time around. The Eagles opened the game on a 22-2 run, burying the Bravettes early and never really feeling any pressure the rest of the night.

"We played Scott County Central twice now and we knew we wanted to get it done right at the beginning, get off to a good start and finish strong," Oran senior Ashlyn McIntosh said.

Oran's Leah Cauble drives past Scott County Central's Hailey Kesler during the second quarter of the championship game in the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament.

"We looked at that [Delta New Year's Tournament championship loss] last weekend with Saxony as a way to help us see where we were at. After that game we really got in the gym and started working on a lot of things, and I think that helped us out. We had the confidence to come out here and do this. We'd never won this tournament ever, so it was a big thing we wanted to win."

Tatum May scored for Oran 12 seconds into the game and the Eagles never looked back, going up by as many as 20 in the first quarter before finishing the period up 22-5.

If there was any doubt about which team was in charge, Jessie Long got out in transition and scored midway through the second quarter and just 25 seconds later McIntosh got a putback. The duo continued to be a force inside for the Eagles, and Oran pushed the advantage to as much as 23 going into the locker room, 38-15.

With Leah Cauble struggling a little bit offensively while facing the pressure of having to break loose of Scott County Central's box-and-1 defense, others picked up the slack, with McIntosh, Long and May all making big contributions in the first half.

"We came out in the first quarter and they went to a box-and-1, and I thought they might go to something different like that," Evans said. "We just felt like we needed to pound the ball inside and get the ball to Jessie and Ashlyn and Tatum and let them go to work.

"[Scott County Central] is probably taller than we are overall, but I feel like *... we've got more speed. We were able to move our girls around from spot to spot and reverse the zone and get the ball inside by going side to side with the ball."

Despite having an off night, Cauble still finished with a team-high 19 points and six assists. Long added 18 points, and McIntosh had 15 points and six rebounds.

Cauble opened the second half with a 3-pointer for Oran just five seconds in, and despite the Bravettes' best quarter of the game, it was not enough. The Eagles stretched the gap to as many as 31 points before Scott County drew within 22, as Johneisha Daniel completed a three-point play with 2:04 left in the third. It was, however, too little too late, and the gap was still too large.

Daniel scored 13 points in the quarter and finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds on the night, but was limited after picking up her fourth foul in the third quarter. LaTeisha Strickland added nine points for the Bravettes.

Leading 56-32 going into the final eight minutes, Oran sealed the deal by holding SCC to just eight points in the fourth quarter, pulling away to enjoy a sweet tournament victory.

Scott County Central will try to bounce back when it travels to East Prairie on Tuesday.

Oran now gets ready for a rematch with Saxony Lutheran, in Oran, on Monday.

SCC coach Matt Limbaugh was unavailable for comment.

SCC 5 10 17 8 -- 40

Oran 22 16 18 18 -- 74

SCOTT COUNTY CENTRAL (40) -- Trinity Thomas 3, LaQuisha Strickland 1, Hailey Kesler 2, Johneisha Daniel 19, Maddison Avance 4, LaTeisha Strickland 9, Brittany Marshall 2. FG 16-44, FT 8-14, F 18. (3-pointers: None. Fouled out: None.)

ORAN (74) -- Brianna Stause 4, Tatum May 8, Ashlyn McIntosh 15, Leah Cauble 19, Jessie Long 18, Claire Ramsey 8, Hannah Scherer 2. FG 29-58, FT 14-20, F 14. (3-pointers: McIntosh, Cauble. Fouled out: None.)

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Charleston 49, Chaffee 47

Connor Watkins scored a game-high 14 points as the fourth-seeded Blue Jays staged a second-half rally to edge the third-seeded host Red Devils to clinch third place in the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament.

Clintazia Clark added 10 points for Charleston (7-4), which trailed 22-17 at halftime but pulled even at 33-33 after three quarters.

Julia Sutterfield netted 12 points for Chaffee (8-7).

Charleston 8 9 16 16 -- 49

Chaffee 9 13 11 14 -- 47

CHARLESTON (49) -- Danita Jones 5, Frederica Evans 3, Sharell Woods 7, Cheyenne Randle 6, Chanelle Quinn 4, Connor Watkins 14, Clintazia Clark 10. FG 12, FT 10-15, F 20 (3-pointers: Watkins 3, Quinn. Fouled out: None.)

CHAFFEE (47) -- Bailey Wiseman 5, Bridgette Swinford 8, Madeline Hendrix 2, Julia Sutterfield 12, Mary Beth Knutson 7, Mattison Cline 5, Katie Glueck 8. FG 15, FT 14-20, F 13 (3-pointers: Cline. Fouled out: Sutterfield.)