Saxony girls dominate Clearwater in district final

PARK HILLS, Mo. -- Two years ago the Saxony Lutheran girls basketball team won its first game in district play.

Last season the Crusaders won two district games during a surprise run to the championship game before playing nervous and tentative in a lopsided loss.

They completed that progressive pattern Wednesday night by wining the Class 3 District 2 title game with a dominating and confident performance worthy of their top seed.

Saxony Lutheran defeated Clearwater 76-41 to capture the program's first district championship in its sixth year of existence.

"I tell them every time we win it's a new record," Saxony Lutheran coach Sam Sides said. "It's up to them how far they want to go with it."

He said he hopes his young team -- which includes 12 freshman, one sophomore and two seniors -- is focused on going farther.

"I hope so," Sides said. "I don't mind them celebrating, but I told them our goal is not to be district champs. Our goal is to go as far as we can, wherever that leads us. I think we'll be hard to beat if we play together, so we're going to try to go as far as we can go."

The Crusaders (25-2) led 12-9 with 2 minutes, 28 seconds left in the opening quarter before closing out the frame on a 10-2 run and slowly separating themselves from Clearwater the rest of the half.

Saxony Lutheran’s Natalie Mueller holds the first-place trophy while celebrating with Raegan Wieser and other teammates after winning the Class 3 District 2 tournament title. (Fred Lynch)

Saxony Lutheran forced 12 first-half turnovers, which it turned into 18 points.

"That's big for us," Sides said. "We try to convert, especially because we're going to be outsized a lot. We want to try to get as many easy buckets as we can. It's part of our philosophy to just keep pushing, keep pushing, trying to beat the other team down the floor and get some high-percentage shots."

Some of those points came as a result of quick transition opportunities, but others were earned with patience in their half-court offense.

"I think it comes naturally to everybody," said freshman Grace Mirly when asked how the players decide when to push for a quick score and when to set up the offense. "We've just been given this God-given ability and we've done it so many times in practice over and over and over again. We just know when it happens."

Mirly scored a team-high 17 points while fellow freshman Brianna Mueller added 14.

Mueller said she wasn't nervous before the contest.

"You could say that I was very pumped," she said. "I mean, it's my first district game coming in as a freshman, knowing that it's big and really wanting to just do it for our seniors.

"I kind of came in just feeling like it was any other game. I mean, I knew it was a big game in the back of my mind, but I came in thinking it was just like any other game."

Nine players scored for Saxony Lutheran, and the Crusaders regularly rotated players in and out of the game.

Saxony Lutheran’s Tess Daniel drives to the basket between Clearwater’s Haley Alcorn, left, and Hannah Rowold. Daniel had six points in the Crusaders’ win. (Fred Lynch)

"The main thing is I got so many girls that can play and contribute that we're just going to try to keep constant pressure on (opponents) and try to wear them down, and I think we did that," Sides said.

Saxony Lutheran also limited prolific Clearwater scorer Lexi Morris to 18 points, just six of which came in the first half.

"Our game plan was shut Lexi Morris down," Mueller said. "She's their go-to girl. She's an amazing player. I give all credit to her and everything, but we knew that if we didn't want them to play at our level, we had to shut her down."

Saxony Lutheran will play the winner of today's Class 3 District 1 championship game between Twin Rivers and New Madrid County Central at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at the Bearcat Event Center in Dexter.

"It means so much," Mueller said of delivering the school's first girls basketball title. "I know that everybody had high expectations for us, and I felt like we met it. But none of us want to stop here. We want to keep going."

Saxony Lutheran’s Brianna Mueller shoots for two of her 14 points in the Crusaders’ 76-41 victory. (Fred Lynch)

Clearwater 9 10 9 13 -- 41

Saxony Lutheran 20 23 22 11 -- 76

CLEARWATER (41) -- Hannah Rowold 4, Bailey Roach 2, Darrian Gayle 2, Kyra Garrison 6, Haley Alcorn 9, Lexi Morris 18. FG 14, FT 8-9, F 13. (3-pointers: Alcorn 1, Morris 4. Fouled out: none)

SAXONY LUTHERAN (76) -- Abby Hadler 6, Grace Mirly 17, Ali Galemmo 2, Brianna Mueller 14, Natalie Mueller 7, Lauren Hecht 7, Tess Daniel 6, Raegan Wieser 11, Maddie Brune 6. FG 32, FT 13-19, F 13. (3-pointers: Mirly 2, Hecht 1. Fouled out: none)