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Lutheran North Girls Hoops Finishes Third; IWA Seeks Eighth State Title
By Jim Wieners
Lutheran High School North Girls Basketball’s first-ever journey to the Missouri State High School Activities Association Class Three championships was an down and up affair on the University of Missouri campus.
Lutheran North’s first-ever state semifinal game, played March 9 at the Hearnes Center, was over early as eventual repeat state champion Strafford poured it on in an 80-47 rout. Strafford led from start to finish as Haley Frank, with 21 points and 21 rebounds, and Zoey Mullings, with 23 points and 11 rebounds, were two Indian players with double-double stats. Leading the way for Lutheran North were sophomore Madison Buford, 24 points, and sophomore Jordyn White, 13 points.
Lutheran North rebounded March 10 in the Class Three third-place game at Mizzou Arena as the Crusaders defeated Trenton 61-56 to end the season with a 23-9 record. The Crusaders outscored Trenton 21-15 in the fourth quarter to secure their end of season win. Kaylynn Hayden, another Lutheran North sophomore, led the Crusaders with 20 points, White scored 14 and Buford added 10.
Lutheran North’s road to state in Girls Basketball began by winning Class Three, District Six at Orchard Farm. It then continued with a 59-52 Sectional win March 1 over Cardinal Ritter at St. Charles West and the Crusaders secured their first ever semifinal berth March 4 with a 64-52 quarterfinal win over Clark County at Warrenton High.
Against Cardinal Ritter Lutheran North, which led 44-36 after three quarters as White scored 19 and Buford added 16. Against Clark County Lutheran North had a 36-23 second half as Buford scored 21, White had 12 points and 10 rebounds and sophomore Heaven Davis scored 10.
Lutheran North began District Six Feb. 20 with a 78-12 rout of Northwest Academy of Law as Raevyn Ferguson, another Crusader sophomore, led Lutheran North with 14 points while still another Davis, added 10. On Feb. 23 Lutheran North turned a 26-18 halftime lead to a 56-19 rout of Trinity Catholic with a 30-1 second-half steamroll as Ferguson scored 16 and Davis added 10. On Feb. 24 Lutheran North overcame a 19-6 first quarter deficit to defeat North Tech to defeat North Tech 62-44 for the Crusaders first district title since 2007, their fourth since 1986.
White led Lutheran North with 18 points and 16 rebounds while Davis added 15 points. Leading the way for 20-8 North Tech were senior Janelle Randle, with 16 points and 20 rebounds, and senior Chrishey Wilkes, with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Lutheran North had only two seniors, Jayala Pierce and Abigail Spann.
CLASS 4: INCARNATE WORD ACADEMY will be playing in their 16th state semifinal since 1993, Thursday, March 16, against first-time state semifinalist Carl Junction at approximately 8:30 at Mizzou Arena after Dexter, in their fourth semifinal since 2009, plays Kansas City St. Pius X, in their third semifinal since 2000, at approximately 6:50. Winners play Saturday, March 18, at 4:30 while the losers play Friday, March 17 at 12:45 IWA, which goes into the state semifinals with a 26-4 record, has won seven state titles, the last in 2015 (Class Four), defeating Dexter in the state final. St. Pius X was third in Class Three in 2016.
IWA rolled to the Class Four, District title at St. Charles High, the Red Knights eight consecutive district title and their 28th district or regional title since 1974. In the March 2 rout of Jennings, 73-16, IWA, which led 24-0 after one quarter, was led by sophomore Kiki Britzmann, 20 points, 12 rebounds, sophomore Rickie Woltman, 15 points, and junior Sonya Morris, 14 points. In the March 4 district title win over St. Charles High, 64-42, IWA, which outscored the host Pirates 37-9 in the second and third quarters, was led in scoring by Morris, 24 points and Britzmann, 16 points.
In the March 8 Sectional win over Warrenton High, 53-46 IWA, which led 15-6 after one quarter and 40-32 after three quarters, was led by junior Nakayla Jackson-Morris with 17 points. Sonya Morris added 12 and Britzmann added 10. In the March 11 Quarterfinal win over Parkway North, 62-47 Sonya Morris scored 25 points, Nakayla Jackson-Morris added 12 and senior Naomi Johnson, scored 10.
