El Dorado Springs girls claim 2nd MSHSAA state championship in dominant fashion

SPRINGFIELD, Mo — El Dorado Springs started hot and never really slowed down, cruising to a 61-26 win over South Shelby in the Class 3 girls championship game on Friday afternoon at JQH Arena.

The state title is the second in the program history following the 2014 title won in Columbia – both guided by Beau Swopes.

The No. 1-ranked Bulldogs jumped ahead 6-0 early and after a 3-pointer by South Shelby’s Emma Dovin, responded with a 10-0 run that featured seven points from Macie Mays. The 16-3 lead eventually paved the way for a 24-7 advantage going into the second quarter.

Drury signee Reese Schaaf made the last bucket of the first quarter and that was part of a 13-0 run that carried into the second quarter and turned into a very football-like 35-7 advantagefor the Bulldogs (29-3).

“We knew they were good and we knew we were probably going to see full-court man(defense) and we had problems with it,” South Shelby coach Luke O’Laughlin said. 

South Shelby had nine turnovers in the first half and El Dorado Springs got steals on seven of.them – four by Mays. The Bulldogs led 43-11 at halftime and 15 of those points were from turnovers.

“I think we just came out with a lot of energy and we knew we just had 32 minutes left and we went out and gave it our all,” said Mays, a junior guard who scored 15 points. “I think that is what helped us jump to a lead like that.”

El Dorado Springs hit 7 of 10 shots in the second quarter and hit 59.3 percent of shots in the first half.

The lopsided lead at halftime gave El Dorado Springs an opportunity to go deep into the playing rotation. All 15 players saw at least one minute of action and seven different players scored. Tevi Gurley, one of only three seniors for El Do, led the team in scoring with 16 points, including four 3-pointers. The forward averaged 5.8 points per game heading into the semifinals.

Schaaf tied Mays for second in scoring with 15 points – each of them scoring 13 of those points in the first half.

“The girls played great. I was super excited about how the defense was,” Swopes said. “They came out and stepped up and did what they needed to without a whole lot of time. We watched a little film last night and saw some things. We briefly went over some stuff and they executed. Offensively, they looked great.”

Miranda Patterson led South Shelby (25-5) in scoring with 11 points and she had two of the team’s five baskets when halftime arrived.

Third-Place Game: Strafford 64, West County 34

The Indians ended with a win in the school’s first five trips to the state meet and now made it six with a dominating win in the third-place game Friday morning at the Hammons Student Center at Missouri State.

Strafford, though, was playing in its first non-championship game since after losing at the buzzer on Thursday against El Dorado Springs. The Indians won four straight titles from 2016-2020.

The Indians (25-5) trailed early but after a pair of free throws by Bailey Chrisman with 4:17 left in the first quarter the lead never changed hands. Strafford led 27-18 at halftime and then put the game out of reach by scoring 28 points in the third quarter.

Strafford opened with a 14-2 run the first four minutes of the third, eight of those from junior guard Laney Humble. She finished with a game-high 19 points.

A jumper by Sophia Frerking got the game into turbo-clock territory with 30 seconds left in the third quarter.

Strafford played 14 players in the blowout win, including senior guard Emma Compton. She suffered a shoulder injury in the semifinal loss and got the start in this game but was removed after missing a jumper on the first possession of the game.

Strafford forced 32 turnovers and had 20 steals, six by freshman Brooklyn Adney.

West County (24-6) made only nine baskets in the loss, the first time all year the Bulldogs lost consecutive games. Lillian James hit three 3-pointers to lead West County with nine points.