Jan. 22, 2019

WARDSVILLE, Mo. --- The night for folks in Green was really good, but the night for Amanda Henke was even better.

Amanda is the daughter of former major league pitcher Tom Henke. Amanda has Down Syndrome. But she hardly sits at home feeling sorry for herself, not that Tom and family would ever let that happen.

Amanda won the 50-50 drawing Tuesday night, pocketing $66. That, however, was pure luck. Here's the kicker --- she made a shot from the top of the key at halftime of the Blair Oaks-Southern Boone game, and that was worth $100.

Goose bumps.

Forget the cash, although we could all use an extra 166 bucks, couldn't we? Because on a good night of basketball, the highlight came at halftime.

Bracketing the break was the always-entertaining game between the Falcons and Eagles, in a bout that would basically decide the Tri-County Conference regular-season championship.

And once again, you can color it green.

Blair Oaks started the game with a 10-0 burst and led wire-to-wire in its 51-33 win over friendly-but-bitter rival Southern Boone in a battle of state-ranked teams before a big crowd Tuesday night at the Green House.

"It's always a good win when we can beat Southern Boone," said Falcons coach Ryan Fick, whose team lost to the Eagles 60-52 earlier this season in the Tri-County Tournament championship game. "This was a big game as far as the conference goes, because neither one of us had a loss coming in.

"We've become so familiar with each other over the years, because it seems like we're playing each other two-three times a year. And we're two similar schools and two similar communities who really have a lot of pride in their athletic programs.

"It's always a fun game."

This was no exception.

To say the Eagles (14-2, ranked No. 3 Class 3) are undersized against the Falcons (13-5, No. 8 Class 3) --- which features talented 6-8 junior Eric Northweather and 6-6 senior Dru Rackers --- would be kind of like saying Danny DeVito is undersized compared to Shaq.

Not quite, but kind of.

On top of that, the Eagles have lost the services of point guard Reece Gilmore for at least a month with a broken right hand.

"That," Fick said, "makes a big difference for what they're trying to do."

Northweather scored nine of his 12 points in the first quarter as the Falcons took a 15-6 lead after one. It was 15-3 at one point, before the Eagles put together a 13-3 run to get within 18-16 midway through the second.

This charge was not a surprise by the undersized and undermanned Eagles. And it was a charge led by 6-2 senior Sam Stichnote, even though he only scored seven points on the night.

Stichnote is one of those guys who gets it, whether it's basketball, football, baseball or in life.

"He's a special kid, he really is," Fick said. "I feel like he's been there for 10 years ... he's the ultimate competitor and he does things the right way. As a coach who's watched him for years, he's the type of kid you'd always love to have on your team."

The Blair Oaks leads were 26-20 at the half and was 37-32 after three quarters. Southern Boone, which received 11 points from Tyson Smith, never had the lead, before the outcome was decided with a bang by the Falcons in the fourth.

Rackers dropped in eight points of his 12 points in the final frame and Blair Oaks' stifling defense led to a 14-1 scoring edge to make it an 18-point margin at the end.

"It took us a while to get going against their zone," Fick said. "But I thought in the second half, our movement against the zone was much better.

"We had guys cutting, we were moving the ball much better, and we were able to spread things out and get the ball in the paint much better than we had in the first three quarters."

Good win, no doubt. But on this night, it wasn't the highlight. Not even close.

"From time to time at halftime," Fick said, "we'll hear some pretty loud cheers (when team is in the locker room), so we know something good happened. Then when we found out it was Amanda, we were all really, really happy for her.

"She's one of our biggest fans and she gives me advice before just about every game. And then when I heard she also won the 50-50 drawing, I couldn't believe it."

Believe it. 

Because sometimes, great things happen to great people.

Loeffler's Link

Amanda Henke (center), daughter of former major league pitcher Tom Henke, is awarded a $100 check after making a shot from the top of the key during halftime of Tuesday night's game between Blair Oaks and Southern Boone in Wardsville.

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