Oran girls basketball team flies by Charleston in conference tournament semifinals

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- The Oran girls basketball has thus far proven it deserves to be the No. 1 seed in the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament. On Wednesday, it added another blowout victory to its resume, steaming past No. 4 Charleston 78-36 at Chaffee High School to move into the tournament championship.

The Eagles will face No. 2 Scott County Central, a team they have defeated twice this season, in the final.

In a game which Oran (11-1) controlled for most of the clock, it was the third quarter in which it completely blew the doors off. The Eagles came out of the halftime break and bombarded the Bluejays (6-4) with a 15-0 run, outscoring Charleston 29-4 in a lopsided quarter that erased any doubt as to the victor.

"We just talked about responding to the physicality they were bringing," Oran coach Ethan Evans said. "Not trying to back away whenever you've got some contact. Taking it right at them. ... We were able to attack their pressure and get some open looks for people at the other end."

Brianna Stause knocked down a 3-pointer to begin the third quarter, and Oran ran off in transition, taking advantage of space on the floor for the next five baskets. Ashlyn McIntosh hit a bucket to make the score 50-23 with 3 minutes, 52 seconds left in the quarter.

Charleston responded with a few free throws but did little to dent the gap, and the Eagles scored the period's final 10 points to take a 64-27 lead into the fourth.

Tatum May scored with 6:48 left to play to give Oran its biggest lead of the game, 70-27.

May contributed 10 points and 12 rebounds for the winning side, while Leah Cauble led all scorers with 25 points and eight assists. Jessie Long pitched in 18 points and seven rebounds for Oran.

Claire Ramsey came off the bench and scored nine points in the middle two periods to help the Eagles -- who shot 29 of 60 (48.3 percent) on the night -- take control.

"Claire Ramsey is one of those girls who fills the stat sheet -- not necessarily the box score, but she ... does the little things," Evans said. "She sets good screens, she doesn't turn it over and she'll make a jump shot when she gets open. Tonight I was really proud of her effort."

Cheyenne Randle paced the Bluejays with 20 points and eight boards.

Oran jumped out to a quick lead early on, with May knocking down a pair of shots before Cauble twice got the ball low to Long for back-to-back buckets and Ashlyn McIntosh (eight points, five rebounds) sank a turnaround jumper to put the Eagles up 10-2 with 3:22 left in the first quarter.

Cauble didn't hit her first shot until there was less than a minute left in the quarter, but the long 3-pointer preceded another McIntosh basket, which gave Oran a 20-7 lead after one quarter.

"You could tell they came out with a little fire in their bellies and were ready to go tonight," Evans said.

Charleston opened up the second with consecutive baskets from Randle to cut the deficit to single digits, 20-12, with 6:06 on the clock. Long responded for the Eagles on the fast break, but Oran was unable to pull away any more as the sides began to trade baskets.

Sharell Woods (seven points) got a putback for the Bluejays at 3:42, and 30 seconds later, it was Randle again, taking a steal and going coast to coast to take the gap to single digits for a final time, 27-19.

But Oran settled down after a stretch of turnovers, and Cauble hit six straight free throws to extend the advantage to 35-21. She was 8 of 8 on the night from the charity stripe.

Randle hit a jumper with 40 seconds left before the break, and the score at halftime was 35-23 in favor of the Eagles.

Stause, an Oran senior starter, left the game midway through the third quarter after injuring her knee on a hard foul under the basket and did not return. An intentional foul was called on the play.

Charleston will play No. 3 Chaffee in the third-place game at 5:15 p.m. today. The tournament championship will follow at 7:45 p.m.

Charleston 7 16 4 9 -- 36

Oran 20 15 29 14 -- 78

CHARLESTON (36) -- Sharell Woods 7, Cheyenne Randle 20, Connor Watkins 3, Clintazia Clark 2, Frederica Evans 3, A'shanta Whitney 1. FG 14-50, FT 5-7, F 18. (3-pointers: Randle 2, Watkins. Fouled out: None.)

ORAN (78) -- Leah Cauble 25, Brianna Stause 6, Tatum May 10, Ashlyn McIntosh 8, Jessie Long 18, Claire Ramsey 9, Hannah Sherer 2. FG 29-60, FT 15-21, F 13. (3-pointers: Cauble 3, Stause 2. Fouled out: None.)