NOTEBOOK: End of season, era for Saxony Lutheran girls basketball family

COLUMBIA, Missouri -- There were already tears in her eyes -- and why wouldn't there be, after four years working toward a singular goal that drifted away by just a few points? But when she opened her mouth to talk about her coach, Grace Mirly stopped short. Her eyes welled up, she paused to catch her breath and she smiled as much as one can smile after losing a state championship.

"We have been so extremely blessed to have a coach like him. We wanted to come up here, not to win for ourselves, but we wanted to win for him," Mirly said about Sam Sides. "He's done so much for us, like, on and off the court, and him saying that he's going to miss us more than the games and more than anything, it just means so much to us. ... We played for Coach, and that's what I'm just proud of. I'm proud that we were able to do that for him."

Mirly is one of eight Saxony seniors, along with Raegan Wieser, Brianna Mueller, Ashlynn Coller, Ali Gallemo, Maddie Brune, Tess Daniel and Heather Wills. All of them knew that Saturday, come rain or shine, win or lose, was the last time they would pull on a Crusader uniform, and the last time they'd play together. Or for Sides.

It marks the end of an era for Saxony. The program had never won a district title before. With the arrival of this class as freshmen -- and many of them played from the start -- it collected four straight district championships and twice traveled to the final four, finishing fourth in 2014.

In the end, Saxony leaned heavily on its upperclassmen in the championship, with non-seniors playing just nine total minutes.

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

Brianna Mueller led all scorers with 20 points. Raegan Wieser finished with 15 points. Maddie Brune played top-level defense with eight rebounds and five steals while holding Strafford standout Hayley Frank to 12 points, eight below her per-game average.

The Crusaders will remember -- and be remembered for -- their near miss, but the more lasting impression will be of a group of girls that was more like a family than a team.

"We have such a close group. We have a tight group," Wieser said. "Everything we do together, we make memories. ... When we're together, we have so much fun. It'll definitely be the memories of us being together and just the family feel that we have."

The connection is also clearly evident in the way Sides has talked repeatedly over the past few weeks of dreading the end of his time with the girls, more like a father than a coach figure.

"The hardest part to me is not losing, because I've lost plenty of times," Sides said. "The hard part is that was going to be the last game with these girls no matter what, and I've gotten real close to them in four years. To me, that's very tough. I was sad for them that they couldn't win, but mostly upset for myself because it was going to end for me no matter what happened. It was going to be the last game I was going to get to coach them. To me, that's the tough part."

Now it has come to an end.

Having stepped on the hardwood for a final time together, the Saxony Lutheran Class of 2016 leaves behind a legacy that has changed the program, the school and the community.

"Our number of people going to school has just gotten bigger because of the basketball program and because of the great girls that we have here," Mirly said, "and I'm just so proud to be able to represent Saxony."

Stretch opportunities

In the big picture, it's not about a failed comeback, but about struggles for Saxony offensively in the first half that put it in the position to have to rally. Woeful shooting kept the Crusaders chasing, as they shot 26.1 percent from the field on 6-of-23 shooting from the field in the first half. They were just 2 of 12 from 3-point range before the break.

"We're kind of a drive and 3-point shooting team, and when we can't get that done, then we struggle a little bit," Sides said. "They're a good defensive team, and they're hard to shoot over. We got some success trying to attack the bucket, got to the free-throw line -- which we did a few times -- and made some shots. But we didn't get a whole lot of open looks, and then we missed some when we did have them."

Still, it's hard not to point to missed opportunities down the stretch, when momentum could have been swung and confidence could have been boosted.

Trailing by as many as 12 points early in the fourth quarter, Saxony got back in the game with opportunistic buckets and aggressive defense. The Crusaders just weren't quite opportunistic enough.

Down by nine with six and half minutes left to play, Saxony Lutheran proceeded to force turnovers on six straight Indian possessions, a critical move considering Strafford was comfortable holding the ball, slowing down the game and bleeding the clock.

But Saxony could not capitalize on those chances, scoring on just two of those six turnovers. A steal by Collier ultimately led to a missed layup, a steal by Brune turned into an offensive foul in transition, a second steal by Brune saw the ball skip out of bounds on the other end and a swipe by Daniel led to another missed layup.

"Everything is magnified in a close ball game like that. Some days you make those plays, some days they work against you," Sides said.

Despite those struggles, the Crusaders still cinched up the deficit, making the score 46-44 after a 3-pointer from Wieser with 31 seconds left. They got no closer.

In a close contest it's hard to point the finger at a particular play or two, especially with first- and third-quarter struggles digging Saxony's grave, but better efficiency on late chances certainly would have altered the fabric of the game's final moments and, maybe, turned the tides.

Game on the line

Close games are often decided by free throws, and with the game -- and a state championship -- on the line, Strafford was lights out from the free-throw line.

After not attempting a shot at the charity stripe in the first half, the Indians made 13 trips to the line in the second half, converting on 12 of those. Most importantly, they were perfect (8 of 8) in the game's final 1 minute, 13 seconds.

It's the kind of performance that Strafford expects.

"That's been our forte all the way through with this group," Strafford coach Steve Frank said. "They've consistently all year shot free throws really well. I think we've got about five kids that average right around 80 percent from the free-throw line and higher. In close games and down the stretch, that's the character of a good team."

With the pressure on and Saxony Lutheran breathing down the Indians' necks, Hayley Frank hit a pair of freebies at 1:13 before Kaylee Larimer did the same 26 seconds later. Then it was Abby Oliver's turn -- with the gap just two points -- with :27 on the clock.

"We shoot a ton of free throws in practice," Oliver said. "We're always up there on the line, so I think that's like our comfort zone, whenever we get fouled and get to go up there."

Hayley Frank closed things out with the score 48-46 and just four seconds left to play, as she cooly drained two looks from the free-throw line.

At that point, though, all the pressure was on the Crusaders. Strafford's players were just doing what they'd always dreamed of.

"Every time I've stepped to the free-throw line, I've thought about this, and I've been out shooting at my house and put myself in that situation so many times," Hayley Frank said. "I don't really think there was a lot of pressure on it just because that's what I've prepared for in those situations."