ST. JOSEPH — There was an uneasiness for the Southwest Lady Wildcats and their fans as the team reached halftime of Tuesday’s Class 1 high school basketball state tournament opener against Stanberry.
The Ludlow-based Lady Wildcats led, as they had most of the first half, but the margin was a scant one point after Stanberry had gone through some early struggles against the Southwest press and later had to deal with budding foul trouble for its top player, 6’2” center Kaitlyn Mercer.
With Mercer neutralized – she did not score before halftime, Southwest obviously would have liked to have exploited her woes and built a bigger lead.
It soon would be demonstrated why the concern the Lady Wildcats, their coach, and fans was well-founded.
A more-determined Mercer and her teammates found a less-alert Southwest defense after intermission and exploited it to quickly seize the lead and eventually secure a 37-31 triumph.
“That’s a good enough team, if you let them hang around long enough, pretty soon they’re part of the game,” Southwest coach Brian Upton lamented after his squad’s still-excellent 2009-10 season had ended with a record of 23-4.
“The second half just didn’t go the way we wanted it.”
Stanberry (16-11) moves on to the state quarterfinals Saturday against Conception Junction: Jefferson.
Lady Bulldogs coach Ryan Madison, who is assisted by Eric Fairchild, a Hamilton alumnus and son of former Chillicotheans Todd and Laurie Fairchild, confirmed the focus during halftime was getting Mercer going.
“There were times in the first half she turned to score and didn’t take the shot,” he recalled. During halftime, “I said, ‘Look, just take a shot. We’ve got a good chance of getting the offensive rebound with Kelsie Stuart in there, too.’
“That’s what she did and we did a good job of going to the boards.”
The Lady Wildcats shut out Stanberry for the first 5:10 with a combination of good defense and off-target Lady Bulldogs outside shooting.
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ST. JOSEPH — There was an uneasiness for the Southwest Lady Wildcats and their fans as the team reached halftime of Tuesday’s Class 1 high school basketball state tournament opener against Stanberry.
The Ludlow-based Lady Wildcats led, as they had most of the first half, but the margin was a scant one point after Stanberry had gone through some early struggles against the Southwest press and later had to deal with budding foul trouble for its top player, 6’2” center Kaitlyn Mercer.
With Mercer neutralized – she did not score before halftime, Southwest obviously would have liked to have exploited her woes and built a bigger lead.
It soon would be demonstrated why the concern the Lady Wildcats, their coach, and fans was well-founded.
A more-determined Mercer and her teammates found a less-alert Southwest defense after intermission and exploited it to quickly seize the lead and eventually secure a 37-31 triumph.
“That’s a good enough team, if you let them hang around long enough, pretty soon they’re part of the game,” Southwest coach Brian Upton lamented after his squad’s still-excellent 2009-10 season had ended with a record of 23-4.
“The second half just didn’t go the way we wanted it.”
Stanberry (16-11) moves on to the state quarterfinals Saturday against Conception Junction: Jefferson.
Lady Bulldogs coach Ryan Madison, who is assisted by Eric Fairchild, a Hamilton alumnus and son of former Chillicotheans Todd and Laurie Fairchild, confirmed the focus during halftime was getting Mercer going.
“There were times in the first half she turned to score and didn’t take the shot,” he recalled. During halftime, “I said, ‘Look, just take a shot. We’ve got a good chance of getting the offensive rebound with Kelsie Stuart in there, too.’
“That’s what she did and we did a good job of going to the boards.”
The Lady Wildcats shut out Stanberry for the first 5:10 with a combination of good defense and off-target Lady Bulldogs outside shooting.
