Saxony Lutheran girls basketball team falls in state semifinal

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Saxony Lutheran and El Dorado Springs entered Wednesday's Class 3 state semifinal game with similar styles of play and personnel, and the obvious goal of making it to the title game.

"Definitely before the game we kind of talked about how kind of us and El Dorado Springs, how we're similar teams, and it'd come down to who played the hardest, who gave the most effort and the most heart," Saxony sophomore guard Grace Mirly said. "Before going in that's the kind of pep talk we had and then in the end we just figured out that we did not give a hundred percent, and if we would have we fully believe that it would've had a different outcome."

The outcome was a 59-38 Crusader loss, but Saxony coach Sam Sides was quick to point out that it wasn't because of his team's effort after listening to Mirly's assessment.

"They're a good team. They're just better than us," Sides said. "[Number] 20 [Alexa Schaaf] is the best player we've played against all year. I don't think there's any question about that. Their ball-handling was great. Their free-throw shooting was great. We had a hard time pressuring them. They just beat us. At least tonight they were a better team."

It was close for the first four minutes of the game, but the Bulldogs finished the first quarter with a 13-2 run to take a 21-10 lead.

"Typically we try to set the tempo as an up and down, try to get them out and run type of tempo," El Dorado Springs coach Beau Swopes said. "Early on we knew that Saxony -- they were wanting to do the exact same thing, so we tried to slow down and change the tempo and still control what we were going to do. And the girls did a great job of handling the pressure, they made free throws down the stretch and continued to do kind of what we do all year as far as taking care of the ball and playing good defense and it paid out for us."

The Crusaders (24-5) were able to pull within seven points at 31-24 at halftime, but El Dorado Springs scored the first seven points after the break and Saxony trailed by double figures the remainder of the game.

"Their ball handling skills were as good as any team we've played. We put a lot of energy into trying to chase them and got behind there," Sides said. "We had a hard time guarding man-to-man early, tried to switch up some things, but they buried some outside shots, so damned if you do, damned if you don't. You've got to find a way to slow them down."

The Bulldogs worked the ball a lot on the offensive end to take some time off the clock fairly early in the second half.

Swopes said he felt comfortable doing that because of how well his players shoot free throws -- the Bulldogs made 73 percent of their free throws on the season -- and it paid off. The Bulldogs were 22 of 27 from the line and made 12 in the fourth quarter alone.

"They force you to play defense for a long time," Sides said. "Without a shot clock out there you've got to play defense, it seemed like, two minutes at a time. That's hard to do, stay focused that long, and there's very few teams that will work the ball that much, and they're a good ball-handling team, they shoot free throws very well, so if they get the lead they're going to be very difficult to come back on. You burn up a lot of energy just trying to guard them. You make one false move, you fall asleep for a second or two, and they're going to get a layup. They're very difficult to guard."

Alexa Schaaf had a game-high 22 points and nine rebounds while Kameron Schaaf had 13 points and five rebounds.

Brianna Mueller led Saxony with 15 points and five rebounds and Ali Galemmo had 10 points.

Saxony (24-5) will play Hermann (27-2) in the Class 3 third-place game at 2:30 p.m Friday at Mizzou Arena. Hermann lost 58-39 to Ash Grove in a semifinal.

"We can execute better," Sides said. "We've got to regroup. We've got one more game together. And like I told them, the worst thing about losing is that it ends your season. Well, up here, you're going to play two games no matter what you do. We've got one game left together, and I expect them to come out and play as hard as they can and as smart as we can and see what we can do. Hopefully we'll be ready."

Saxony 10 14 8 6 -- 38

El Dorado Springs 21 10 14 14 -- 59

SAXONY LUTHERAN (38) -- Grace Mirly 3, Ali Galemmo 10, Brianna Mueller 15, Reagan Wieser 3, Maci Daniel 2, Tess Daniel 5. FG 13, FT 11-19, F 21. (3-pointers: Mueller 1. Fouled out: none)

EL DORADO SPRINGS (59) -- Rachel Bush 5, Kinli Simmons 4, Madison Mays 6, Alexa Schaaf 22, Kameron Schaaf 13, Cameron McPeak 2, Candice Loane 3, Taylor Witt 2, Hannah Kruckenberg 2. FG 16, FT 23-27, F 18. (3-pointers: Mays 2, A. Schaaf 2, Candice Loane 1. Fouled out: none)