By Mike Philips
Contributing sportswriter
When Cole Camp’s Emily Pritzel made two free throws to put Cole Camp ahead of the Crest Ridge Lady Cougars 47-46 with five seconds left Dec. 17 in the W-K Holiday Shootout, I guess both Cole Camp Coach Brooke Ogle and I looked up at the clock at the same time.
Thinking back to the previous year when the two teams were tied at 37-37 with 1.6 seconds left, Crest Ridge had to go the length of the court to get off a shot. I was getting ready for overtime.
Instead, Crest Ridge made one pass to guard Mel Branscom at half-court. A Cole Camp player ran up and fouled Branscom before the buzzer went off. Branscom went to the other end and made the first free throw to give the Lady Cougars a 38-37 win.
On Dec. 17 I was wondering if Cole Camp could give away another one. Crest Ridge inbounded the ball, made two quick passes and got the ball to the baseline. I couldn’t bear to watch. The Cougars got off a shot, but I think it was partially blocked. The buzzer went off and Cole Camp had reversed the fortunes of 2011.
It was fun interviewing Ogle that night as compared to a year before. I was very happy for her. She deserved the win. Her team fought back from an 11-point deficit at the half. They deserved it and Pritzel had a great game.
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It’s always fun to interview the child of a parent or parents I had covered in the past.
Saturday morning, I interviewed La Monte’s Vada DeMotte, daughter of Jeri Lou (Blakely) and Bobby DeMotte, two pretty good athletes at La Monte while I was writing for the daily paper.
We did a lot of reminiscing Saturday morning. Sorry about that Vada, but really that is what sports is supposed to be all about – the friendships you make and keep over the years. Vada, remember years from now the girls that you played with.
Thanks Bobby and Jeri.
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At last, both the Smith-Cotton boys and Lady Tigers have full-bracket, eight-team tournaments in January. It’s about time.
I got so tired of seeing the Rock Bridge boys come here, play two games and take home the trophy. The tournament has been referred to as the Rock Bridge Invitational, since the Bruins have won it six years in a row. Do I hear seven? They will just have to play more games this year.
The Lady Tiger McDonald’s Classic remains an eight-team tournament with two-time defending champion Springfield Parkview coming back along with Hickman and Bishop Ward.
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Speaking of eight-team tournaments, why don’t the rest of our schools go to eight-team, full-bracket tournaments? These pool-play events are a joke. All pool play does is give teams a guaranteed number of games. Make these tournaments meaningful. It doesn’t mean anything to win a pool-play tournament.
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I would love to see La Monte get out of the Mid State Conference. That conference is terrible. I could put a junior high team on the floor that could beat any of the Mid State Conference schools in any sport.
I am happy for the La Monte girls’ basketball team now that they are winning, but their wins are against the Mid State. I can’t see that they are learning anything by blowing out those schools.
They can compete in the Kaysinger if they want to compete. Some of those Viking teams in the ’80s were tough. I know the population demographics have changed in La Monte, but a tough coach will make the players follow the rules.
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Hey Smith-Cotton coaches Hughes and Vandevender, I have not heard from either one of you this season. I don’t know why the AD gave you our old sports line to call after games. We have not had that line for at least 10 years and it was taken away from sports.
The way to get hold of me is by E mail. My E mail is sportswriter@charter.net. All other coaches use it, you can too.
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MIZZOU. The Tigers take their fourth straight from Illinois, 82-73 Saturday night in St. Louis. Hey Backe, which Mizzou cap do you want to wear this week? You need to get rid of that raggedy Illini thing.
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We only have to watch that horrid Kansas City Chiefs team twice more (once by the time this comes out). Good-bye Romeo and your GM too.
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I’ve been to the first 14 games of the W-K Holiday Shootout, and I will say I think the level of talent is down everywhere.
I have seen three good teams – the Sacred Heart and Cole Camp boys and the Skyline girls.
It is hard to pick the best boys’ team. If Cole Camp had played their starters all four quarters, against Crest Ridge, I think they easily could have scored 110 points. I think Sacred Heart could have easily scored 100 against Santa Fe.
But both Cole Camp Coach Tom Ward and Sacred Heart Coach Steve Goodwin showed a lot of class in not running up the score.
The Skyline Lady Tigers are tiny, but quicker than a batch of cheetahs. If a player dribbles out in front of the Skyline defense, they will flick a hand in there and be gone for a layup. They are so fun to watch. But I have to wonder how Skyline will handle it when they play a team with a lot of size?
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Saturday night, I got a notification on Facebook that a Lindsey Gardner from Kennett, Mo., had accepted my friend request.
I wrote her back and said I did not send her a request but that I knew a Lindsey Baxter who lives in Kennett. Well, the joke was on me. She wrote me right back and said this is Lindsey Baxter. I was never very good with married names.
Lindsey graduated from Smith-Cotton in either 1997 or 1998. She is the daughter of former Smith-Cotton boys, Smithton girls and Clinton boys basketball coach Rod Baxter. Baxter is now coaching in Kennett.
Lindsey played volleyball, basketball and ran track at Smith-Cotton. She was basketball Homecoming Queen one year at S-C. What a beautiful girl and she has a wonderful family.
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It’s halftime of the Chiefs’ game. And guess what? They are losing again. Surprise, surprise. Only a game and half left of this misery.
