Loeffler's Link

Jefferson City's Greta Haarman (24) snags a rebound off the free throw miss by Miller Academy's Daisha Seltzer (2) during the third quarter of Saturday night's game at Fleming Fieldhouse.

Marquee matchup turns into
big-time mismatch at Shootout

dEC. 15, 2018

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. --- This was a day that featured seven games and 10 1/2 hours of basketball, but it had one apparent, clear-cut marquee matchup.

Apparently not. Instead, it was the biggest mismatch of the day.

How much so?

The Jefferson City Lady Jays could have gone scoreless in the second

half --- and still won.

By double-digits.

The Lady Jays, ranked No. 1 in Class 5, outscored Miller Academy, No. 4 in Class 4, by a whopping 36-10 in the middle two quarters Saturday night on their way to a 58-24 domination of the Lady Phoenix during the River Region Credit Union Shootout at Fleming Fieldhouse.

Some marquee matchups are better than others.

"I thought our effort was really, really good," Lady Jays coach Brad Conway said. "We thought we could really take advantage of our height inside and when we did, good things happened. That was really a positive for us.

"And then (on defense), our zone was really effective against them and their shooters."

When you're bigger and better on both offense and defense, 58-24 happens.

"It was a really good game for us, but I'm not going to say it was our best game, to date." Conway said. "But we did some really good things, we got the ball inside and then we were able to knock down some perimeter shots, too."

The start was something else, however, as the Lady Phoenix (5-3) --- who finished fourth in Class 4 last year --- scored the game's first five points.

But after that --- and in this the sixth game of a  seven-game set that was sponsored in part by KRCG --- 58-19 happened.

The Lady Jays (7-0) rallied to take a 14-10 lead after one quarter and used a 22-6 scoring edge in the second to rip open a 34-16 lead. In the second, Hannah Nilges had a three-point play and a four-point play in a span of two minutes, as the 5-6 sophomore scored 12 of her game-high 14 points in the first half.

"She can knock those shots (3-pointers) down," Conway said, "but we need other people to knock those shots down, too, so they just don't start keying on her. Hannah's also capable of putting it on the floor and breaking teams down and we she does that, she can knock down the little floater or dish it off inside."

Jefferson City outscored Miller Academy 16-4 in the third quarter as the lead ballooned to 50-20. Not that it really mattered because again, the Lady Jays could have gone scoreless after the break and still won 34-24.

The sisters Linthacum, 6-3 senior Micah and 6-2 sophomore Sarah, both finished with 12 points for the Lady Jays. Micah missed most of the last two seasons with injuries, but seems to be rounding into form as her high school career is drawing to a close.

At least the University of Missouri thinks she's rounding into form, as she's signed to play for the Tigers.

"She's a senior,"Conway said, "she is hungry, and she's really done a good job in the preseason of hitting the weight room and doing the things we needed her to."

The Lady Jays host Sedalia Smith-Cotton on Wednesday before breaking for Christmas, then they'll compete in the State Farm Invitational Dec. 27-29 at Helias.

CAPITAL CITY SHOOTOUT

Vienna 63, Fatima 57 (boys) --- The Eagles outscored the Comets 24-11 in the fourth quarter to the secure the win.

MMA 75, Harrisburg 67, OT (boys) --- MMA's Gunner Stugert, a 6-3 junior, scored 34 points to break the Shootout's boys single-game scoring record. The old mark was 32 points set by Hermann's Matt Hug in 2015.)

California 55, South Callaway 39 (girls) --- The Lady Pintos win the battle of two reigning district champions.

California 70, Iberia 67 (boys) --- Senior guard Jordon Geiser paces the Pintos with 22 points.

Blair Oaks 53, Hermann 40 (girls) --- Lady Falcons used a 10-2 run late in the third quarter to take charge.

Jefferson City 58, Miller Academy 24 (girls)

Jefferson City 72, Miller Academy 56 (boys) --- Jays run away with it after trailing 16-10 after first quarter.