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West Plains rallies in 2nd half to beat Smithville

Whitfield beat Webster Groves to earn a chance to repeat as champions.
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By Cody Thorn I Photos by Cheap Seats Photography

SPRINGFIELD — Trailing at halftime to an unranked foe, No. 2-ranked West Plains rallied to pick up a 48-37 win over Smithville in a Class 5 semifinal game on Friday afternoon at JQH Arena.

The victory allowed the Zizzers to return to the finals for the second year in a row against Whitfield, which won 50-34 last year.

“We're gonna enjoy this right now,” West Plains head coach Scott Womack said. “But yeah, we know they're loaded team, and we've got to play better offensively. You know, we played with him for three quarters last year and then in the fourth quarter we just struggled scoring against them. So, we know a lot about them. But we'll enjoy this and then tonight, start breaking it down a little bit. We'll have our shoot around tomorrow and get ready for them. It comes down to a 32-minute game. We just gotta go out and play and we know we got to be solid defensively and it always helps to make a few shots.”

The Zizzers (26-4) gave up 19 points in the second quarter and went into the locker room down 26-23 after a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Smithville’s Peyton Wohlford.

West Plains went on a 12-0 run to open the second half, getting a pair of baskets from Missouri commit Ashton Judd, who had a game-high 20 points. The only basket from Smithville (21-9) came on a 3-pointer by Wohlford, whose three with 2:09 left stopped the run. The freshman led the Warriors with 11 points in a reserve role.

“I thought we were gassed in the second quarter,” said Judd, who had six rebounds. “So, getting out of our press really helped and just focusing on our half-court efforts and defensively, I thought we did a really good job cracking down in the second half.”

Smithville shot 9-for-18 from the field in the first half but was only 4-for-13 in the second. Three of the four makes were 3-pointers. The final came from Kenzie Moes with 7:30 left in the game, cutting the Warriors’ deficit to 37-32.

Smithville didn’t score for another five minutes and fell behind 47-32.

“I’m just proud of the girls,” Smithville coach Trevor Mosby said. “I think we ran out of gas. We gave a lot of effort in the first half and at halftime and we had some girls really, really tired. Then in the second half, I got out-coached; he made the adjustments that he needed to in the second half and extended out on our shooters and we didn't have an answer.”

West Plains finished with 18 steals — 12 in the second half — spread among the starting five. Allyssa Joyner had a team-high five, while Zoey Williams, Georgia Osborn and Olivia Lawson all had four.

Whitfield 55, Webster Groves 42

The top-ranked, and defending state champions Warriors, punched a return trip to the finals by outscoring the Statesmen in the first three quarters in the first semifinal game on Friday at JQH Arena.

Whitfield will take a 16-game win streak into the finals and beat Webster Groves for the second time this year. In the second game of the season for both on Nov. 27, the Warriors won 46-41.

Sophomore JaNyla Bush scored 19 of her game-high 24 points in the second half to help Whitfield (24-3) pull away. The guard, who has offers from Missouri State and St. Louis University, hit five 3-pointers and was 7-for-8 from the free-throw line.

Down 25-17 at the break, Webster Groves (24-6) struck first in the second half on a three-point play from guard Ellie Paloucek only 12 seconds into the third. That cut the deficit to five, but the Warriors responded with an 11-0 run that all but locked up the win. A 3-pointer by Tkiyah ‘TeTe’ Nelson started the spurt and a trey by Bush with 4:47 left made it 36-20.

The No. 3-ranked Statesmen pulled with eight points on two occasions but trailed by 14 going into the fourth.

Junior guard Treazure Jackson added 12 points for Whitfield, which hit 18 of 36 shots in the win.

Paloucek, who signed to play soccer at St. Louis University, led Webster Groves with 13. Senior forward Sophia Nittinger, an Eastern Michigan commit, tallied 11 and had a game-high eight rebounds.sdlslsl

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