Tied at 30 and squandering a 23-7 lead, Bishop Brossart executed down the stretch to prevail over Scott in Monday night’s girls 37th District Tournament semifinals in Taylor Mill.
Greylee Kramer knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and Zoee Meyers scored six points in the final five minutes for a Lady ‘Stangs 46-39 victory.
The win gets them into Wednesday’s 37th District championship with Campbell County.
Tight games throughout the year had Brossart ready for the moment when things got well…tight.
“We were prepared for this,” Brossart coach Steve Brown said. “We played in the Final 4 at the All “A”, played Holy Cross with two real nail-biters, played a nail-biter with Campbell. When you play those games win or lose, it’s important to play in those games throughout the season so you’re ready for come a time like tonight.”
A dominant start certainly helped. Brossart led 11-4 after one and held Scott scoreless for over six minutes, stretching the lead to 19-4 before Noelle Price stopped the bleeding with a free throw at the 3:20 mark in the second to make it 19-5.
Brossart extended the lead to as much as 16 before Scott finally found a bit of rhythm, closing on a 9-2 run to get within 25-16 by the half.
“That was a huge run,” Scott coach Eric Pouncy said. “Got our spirits in the locker room lifted and we believed. Tied it up and basically got it up to 0-0, they just made a few more plays down the stretch.”
Momentum continued to stay on Scott’s side out of the half, holding Brossart scoreless for the first four-plus minutes and getting within two at 25-23. Kylie Smith’s 3-point play and a Rachel Shewmaker free throw gave Brossart a 29-28 advantage headed into the fourth.
Scott was able to tie it up at 30 on a Kaia Peterson layup, but Kramer’s 3’s followed by Meyers 3-point play made it 39-33 with 2:48 to play.
“It didn’t really even start there,” Kramer said. “It started with our practices this last week. We’ve been practicing really hard and pushing each other and preparing for these situations.”
Scott was unable to get any closer than four from there, ending their season at 13-13. They’ll graduate five seniors, two starters in Kaia Peterson, Ariana Patterson and key reserve Jayla Sanders. The future looks promising with the freshman backcourt duo of Price and Nakiah Mejia, Price pacing the team with 13 points on Monday. Mejia led the team in scoring throughout the season with 13.5 points per game.
Those two along with Kourtney Peterson gives them a core back of at least three players that played in every game this season.
“The young talent is there,” Pouncy said. “No juniors, so we’ll come back with five players with experience, three of them that have started the last two years. Impressed with our younger kids and if they can mesh all together we can go deeper next year.”
Brossart was led by Meyers’ 16, one of her last points getting her to 1,000 for her career.
“It’s been my goal since freshman year, so just glad I was able to get it done in a good environment,” Meyers said.
Kramer followed with 12, Kylie Smith seven and Shewmaker with six.
“Kylie probably had an off night for her, Hadley Eviston gave us a huge lift defending and rebounding,” Brown said. “We’re a team where girls can play multiple roles and adapt with them and that’s what makes us so dangerous.”
Now they’ll look for revenge against Campbell County, losing to the Camels on Jan. 4, 43-41.
“There’s not a lot of secrets. They won’t do a whole lot different, we won’t do a whole lot different and we’ll just see what happens,” Brown said.
PHOTO SLIDESHOW: Brossart-Scott 37th District tournament semifinal (provided by Charles Bolton)
Lady ‘Stangs 46, Lady Eagles 39
SCOTT — 4-12-12-11 — 39
BISHOP BROSSART — 11-14-4-17 — 46
Scoring
Scott (39) — Price 13, Kaia Peterson 10, Kourtney Peterson 5, Mejia 5, Patterson 4, Sanders 2
Brossart (46) — Z. Meyers 16, Kramer 12, Smith 7, Shewmaker 6, Woosley 3, Eviston 2
3-Pointers Made: Scott 3, Brossart 4
Free Throws: Scott 12/18, Brossart 18/28
Fouls: Scott 21, Brossart 15
Records: Scott 13-13, Bishop Brossart 23-7