Comeback falls short as Saxony Lutheran girls basketball is undone by Strafford in Class 3 title game

COLUMBIA, Mo. — It was going to take an extraordinary effort for the Saxony Lutheran girls basketball team to rally back in the final quarter of Saturday’s Class 3 state championship game.

A layup by Strafford’s Kaylee Larimer put the Crusaders in a 12-point hole with seven minutes remaining, but just as it had been the case all season, Saxony kept fighting.

The Crusaders knocked down bucket after bucket in the final minutes, pulling within two when Raegan Wieser’s triple from the right elbow splashed through the net with 31.1 seconds remaining.

Saxony Lutheran guard Brianna Mueller slips past Strafford forward Hayley Frank for a layup during the Class 3 state championship on Friday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri.Glenn Landberg ~ Southeast Missourian

The Indians never let Saxony get control of the ball while trailing by a single possession, icing the game with four crucial free throws the rest of the way en route to a 50-46 win at Mizzou Arena.

“Tough ball game. They were extremely well-coached, I thought,” Saxony coach Sam Sides said. “They shot the ball extremely well, and their size hurt us, I thought. We got down, dug ourselves a hole, got back in it. I was real proud of them.

“They’re hurting now, but they don’t realize how special of a group of players these girls are. I’m very thankful and blessed to have coached them.”

For Strafford (30-3), it’s the first state championship in the program’s history. The Indians were led by 13 points off the bench from sophomore Zoey Mullings, who was 3 of 4 from beyond the arc.

“It’s a privilege to coach these girls. It’s a great group of kids,” Strafford coach Steve Frank said. “That’s why they’re there because of their mentality and the way they really pull together.”

Saxony Lutheran's Grace Mirly dribbles the basketball as Strafford's Abby Oliver defends during the Class 3 state championship on Friday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri.Glenn Landberg ~ glandberg@semissourian.com

Senior Brianna Mueller finished with a game-high 20 points for Saxony (29-3). She drained a 3-pointer from the top of the right key to put the Crusaders ahead 3-0 just 53 seconds into the game. The Indians used a 4-0 spurt to take their first lead before a layup by Grace Mirly and a fast-break layup by Mueller put the Crusaders back up 7-4 with 3 minutes, 21 seconds left in the opening period.

Mullings answered with a 3-pointer from the right elbow, sparking a 15-0 run that extended into the second quarter and moved Strafford ahead for good.

“When we kind of got things rolling in the first quarter, in my mind I’m thinking, ‘OK, we’re good. We’re going to be on our pace,’” Frank said. “Then it got slow again, and I think coming into it, we were scoring about 70, 75 points a game about 14 games in a row there coming into districts.

“For us to battle in a couple 40-point games, that shows a lot of character from these kids.”

Saxony answered with an 11-2 burst, scoring the last points of the half when a series of three straight offensive rebounds led to a pair of free throws by Wieser with 34.1 seconds remaining in the second quarter. The Crusaders trailed 21-18 at halftime.

The Saxony Lutheran bench celebrates during a fourth-quarter rally in the Class 3 state championship on Friday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri.Glenn Landberg ~ glandberg@semissourian.com

Saxony shot 26.1 percent (6 of 23) in the first half, including 2 of 12 (16.7 percent) from 3-point range.

“They covered up our shooters, and we’re kind of undersized in the post,” said Sides, whose team was tasked with handling the inside presence of 6-foot-1 freshman Hayley Frank. “… We knocked down some, but just not enough. I thought we forced some shots a little bit. We kind of got in a panic mode there early, kind of shot off-balance, got out of rhythm.

“Shooting’s a rhythm activity in my mind. You’ve just got to get in a groove there and knock some down. We did late, but it was too far behind to make a difference.”

A 6-0 Strafford run was answered by a 6-0 Saxony run in the opening minutes of the second half before Mullings scored down low to ignite an 8-2 swing for the Indians, one that spanned the final 2:55 of the quarter and increased the lead to 35-26.

Mullings extended the lead to 12 with a 3-pointer 30 seconds into the final period, but Saxony countered with one final burst.

The Crusaders outscored the Indians 20-15 in the fourth quarter but were plagued by a pair of detrimental turnovers late in the game.

“Everything is magnified in a close ball game like that. Some days you make those plays, some days they work against you,” Sides said. “I’m proud of my team. They battled. We’ve been down a couple times this postseason, battled back through that. We battled back today. We just came up a little short, but I was really happy with our effort. … They don’t have no quit in them.”

Hayley Frank entered the game averaging 20.2 points and 12.2 rebounds per game but was held to only 12 points and eight boards.

She was 6 of 6 at the charity stripe while the rest of her teammates missed only one of their seven attempts.

The Crusaders found some success behind a full-court press in the final period, but Sides attributed stellar ball control and focus for the Indians’ ability to weather the storm.

“They handled the ball pretty well, so we just couldn’t sit back and let them dictate the pace,” Sides said. “I thought they controlled the pace most of the game, and I watched them play half a game. So I didn’t know much about them really. They handled the ball well, took care of the ball, executed their pace and tried to play a little faster, and I think we got going a little bit there, made a run there, put a little pressure on the trap. … It seemed like every time we left somebody open, it smoked us.”

Strafford finished 53.1 percent (17 of 32) from the field, including 66.7 percent (8 of 12) in the second half.

“That’s outstanding shooting because we’re not a bad defensive team,” Sides said. “They shot really well, and we didn’t. So that’s the ball game right there.”

The Crusaders were more efficient from the floor in the second half, during which they shot 45.5 percent (10 of 22), but easy buckets and open looks were hard to find.

“We’ve got to shoot the ball well for us to compete,” Sides said. “We can defend most people, but offensively we’ve got to make shots. We just didn’t make enough of them.

“We finally freed some people up. I think the pace changed for us. I think that sense of urgency helped us a little bit. We picked it up and got people open, screened better. They weren’t as quick getting out there on us either, so we had some spaces. We took advantage of those spaces and made some shots.”

Wieser notched 15 points in her final varsity game. The Crusaders pulled down 22 rebounds, compared to Strafford’s 24. Maddie Brune led Saxony with eight boards.

The loss brings an end to the high school careers of eight Saxony seniors and snaps a 24-game winning streak.

“Coming in as freshmen, we did not know what was ahead of us. We had no idea,” Mirly said. “We just thought we were some freshmen kids that were going to have some fun on the basketball court, but little did we know that we were going to bring a bigger name to Saxony.”

Saxony 7 11 8 20 — 46

Strafford 14 7 14 15 — 50

SAXONY LUTHERAN (46) — Brianna Mueller 20, Raegan Wieser 15, Grace Mirly 4, Maddie Brune 2, Tess Daniel 2, Masyn McWilliams 2, Ashlynn Collier 1. FG 16-45, FT 9-11, F 15. (3-pointers: Wieser 3, Mueller 2.)

STRAFFORD (50) — Zoey Mullings 13, Hayley Frank 12, Abby Oliver 9, Kaylee Larimer 8, Logan Eden 4, Kayley Frank 4. FG 17-32, FT 12-13, F 12. (3-pointers: Mullings 3, Oliver 1. Fouled out: None.)