By Anvil Welch
awelch@joplinglobe.com
Webb City and Neosho prep basketball teams impressively moved into the championship game of the Freeman/Lady Eagle Classic on Friday night.
Webb City raced past Miller 82-57 before Neosho stymied defending champion Marshfield 53-25 in the semifinals.
Class 5 Neosho and Class 4 Webb City put respective records of 5-0 and 5-1 on the line at 5:30 p.m. today in Kaminsky Gymnasium.
Neosho, which recently won 40-33 at Marshfield, used a 2-3 zone defense to shut down the Blue Jays. Neosho limited Marshfield to only one field goal in the first half in building a 32-13 halftime bulge.
“They didn’t shoot well against the zone,” Neosho coach Grant Young said of Gary Murphy’s Blue Jays. “Normally, we try defensively to mix up things.”
The crisp shooting of Savannah Snow keyed a Neosho offense that frequently pushed the ball up the floor for good shots. She joined with 5-foot-7 senior twin sister Lorelei and 6-2 sophomore Kayln Vlasin to pour in a combined 42 points.
Jessie Bruton, a 5-3 sophomore, had two treys, including the field goal in the first half, to score eight points for Marshfield.
Class 2 Miller stayed with Class 4 Webb City, a quarterfinalist in the playoffs last season, a half before Kaitlin Jaeger keyed a 22-11 advantage in the third quarter.
Jaeger, a 6-0 sophomore, scored 15 in the third and finished with 30.
“All-in-all, we played a pretty good game,” Webb City coach Brad Shorter said. “Miller is a very good team. I’ll be surprised if they aren’t in the semifinals of Class 2.
“Jaeger is a tremendous player,” Shorter said. “She works hard. She doesn’t quit in there (on the inside). The other players contribute to her success. Her teammates got her the ball inside.”
The relentless Jaeger was backed by 5-8 senior Nicole Hudson (13 points), 5-9 sophomore Hailey Roderique (11) and 5-5 sophomore Breanna Baker (10).
Miller received 24 points from junior all-stater Hannah Wilkerson. She had 13 in the opening half as Miller trailed 37-31. Sam Hendrickson added 12 for Miller.
Said Miller coach Brandon Weiss: “Webb City is a great team that is coached very well. They play so well together.
“We tip our hats to Webb City. They are the type of team that will make us better.
“We made a lot of mistakes in this game that we didn’t make in our first-round game,” Weiss said. “We didn’t adjust very well.
“Webb City defensively took us out of the game several times,” Weiss said. “We became frustrated at times.”
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