By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
EL DORADO -- The championship game of the 32nd annual Lady Cat Classic was everything and more in a game that matched up 12-0 and Class 4A No. 1 Hayden vs. 11-1 Class 5A No. 5 Maize South.
Hayden poses for a team picture after finishing second in the Lady Cat Classic. [Photo by Justin Burkhardt/TSN]
Hayden senior Amelia Ramsey was named the MVP in the Lady Cat Classic. [Photo by Justin Burkhardt/TSN]
Both teams would trade blows shot for shot before Maize South ended up with a 50-48 win.
Maize South took an 18-17 lead at the end of the first quarter before the Wildcats went on a run of their own in the second quarter and found freshman Hailey Schmidtlein for a layup to go up 31-26 late in the half.
The Mavs' Rylan Chandler would get fouled trying to make a 3-pointer at the buzzer, which would put her at the line where she would make one out of the three charities to let Hayden go into halftime with the 31-27 lead.
The third quarter would be the worst quarter on the season for the Wildcats as they would be outscored 16-3, as they were 0-10 from the field and going 3-6 from the free throw line.
Senior Norma Greco rolled her ankle and Schmidtlein picked up her fourth foul of the game in the third quarter and the Wildcats turned the ball over six times and they would leave the third quarter chasing the Mavs, 43-34 with one timeout left to use in the game for the Wildcats.
At the start of the fourth quarter Greco would check back into the game with her ankle taped up and Schmidtlein would check back in with four fouls and the Wildcats would go on a run, outscoring the Mavs 14-7 in the fourth.
Greco would drain a 3 and a Schmidtlein steal and layup cut the Maize South lead to 50-48 with 15 seconds left in the game. But the Wildcats only had two fouls and still needed three more to force the Mavs to the line.
And that was all it would take for the Mavs to pull off the 50-48 victory.
“We had a nice second quarter and took a lead into halftime and then in the third we had three very important girls get hurt at the same time and that allowed them to pull away on that 16-3 run,'' Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson said. "We fought back in the fourth and gave ourselves a chance at the end and I can’t say enough about the way the girls kept scratching and clawing in the fourth to get it back to a 2-point game at the end.”
The Wildcats got big nights from their leaders, even battling through sore body parts from the grueling three-day tourney.
Senior Amelia Ramsey would finish with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while senior Brylee Meier would finish with 15 points and five rebounds and Greco would finish with 10 points and three steals. Bella Reid would add six huge rebounds of her own.
Schmidtlein would have another good game as she was all over for the Wildcats with 10 points 3 rebounds and 4 steals.
The Wildcats put Ramsey, Meier and Schmidtlein on the all-tournament team, with Amelia Ramsey being named the tournament MVP.
“Those three are special,'' Reynoldson said. "They're really good players and played really well this weekend and they consistently deliver for us, they never stop amazing me.”
Ramsey on getting MVP: “It means a lot. We didn’t get the win but it shows the people thought I did enough to earn that honor and thanks to my teammates for helping get me in the right spots to be able to score and to be able to grab rebounds.”
Maize South was led in scoring by Skylar Seals, who finished with a game-high 16 points.
The Wildcats will next be in action on Feb.7th at Junction City.
MAIZE SOUTH 50, HAYDEN 48
Maize South 18 8 16 7 -- 50
Hayden 17 14 3 14 -- 48
Maize South (12-1) -- Seals 6-11 0-0 16, Thompson 4-8 1-2 10, Brunton 3-4 0-0 6, Lassley 2-6 0-0 4, Singhateh 1-5 2-2 4, Hill 2-6 0-0 6, Chandler 1-2 1-3 4, Davee 0-2 0-0 0, Parr 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-45 4-7 50.
Hayden (11-1) -- Meier 4-8 3-6 15, Ramsey 5-9 3-6 13, Schmidtlein 5-11 0-2 10, Greco 3-8 1-3 10, Reid 0-2 0-0 0, Huescher 0-1 0-0 0, Walter 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-45 7-20 48.
3-point goals -- Maize South 8 (Seals 4, Hill 2, Thompson, Chandler), Hayden 7 (Meier 4, Greco 3). Total fouls -- Maize South 14, Hayden 12,
