South Cal girls continue to roll,
eye deep run in postseason

Lady Jays steamroll to
third title in four years
at Holiday Classic

Loeffler's Link

Now nationally-ranked,
Lady Jays enjoying
another stellar season

Chris Leuckel

Jan. 24, 2020

MOKANE, Mo. ---Most years, there are about 10 teams, give or take, that can win the Class 3 girls state basketball championship.

Then there are other years.

The Strafford girls played give or take by themselves --- they'd give you the business and take away your basketball soul.

While winning four consecutive Class 3 state championships by an average of more than 22 points in the title games was impressive, get this --- they went 115-0 those four seasons, before extending the streak to 123 after starting this season 8-0.

Last year, Strafford dismantled a quality South Callaway team by 41 points in the quarterfinals.

"There's no way to prepare for something like that, for what to say in the locker room after the game," Lady  Bulldogs sixth-year head coach Darren Humphrey said. "When we came up against them last year, it was truly a David and Goliath story.

"They had some outstanding ball players as we're seeing even now at the collegiate level.

The Lady Bulldogs shouldn't feel bad --- Strafford won eight games by more than 41 points last season.

Not a fair fight
Thankfully, the biggest Strafford stars have moved on, including two-time Gatorade Missouri Player of the Year Hayley Frank, who's now at Mizzou.

The Lady Indians have actually lost two games this season, one of those to Helias earlier this month in Jefferson City.

So there's hope.

"It makes them look human,"  Humphrey said. 

This brings several teams back in the mix, including South Callaway, which is an eye-popping 61-9 since the start of the 2017-18 season,

More reason for optimism  The Lady Bulldogs (13-1, ranked 10th) lost only one senior from last year's 22-7 Elite Eight team, but the five starters and the first player off the bench are back.

The leaders of the pack are the dynamic junior duo of 5-8 Paige Clubb and 6-foot Delaney Horstman. 

"They're truly special," Humphrey said. "You couldn't ask for better practice players or game players, they're workhorses who come in and work hard every day."

Clubb is averaging 17 points a game, along with four assists and four steals.

"She can do so much, as far as creating offense goes," Humphrey said. "She's the director of traffic and she sees the floor exceptionally well --- she's an excellent ball handler and she can turn the game in the direction it needs to be turned.

"A  lot of girls crumble under pressure, but that's not Paige at all."

Horstman is averaging a double-double, as she leads the team in scoring (18.1), rebounds (12 per game) and FG percentage (56).

"She's gotten so much better the last two years," Humphrey said, "and I would attribute a lot of that to her footwork. She's not afraid to take on those taller and more experienced players now.

"And her shooting has really improved --- she can knock down a 12-footer as easily as she can hit one from the box."

Horstman joined the 1,000-point club last week, but Clubb had already beat her to the punch --- she reached 1,000 career points last month.

"Those two, along with our senior, Raehgan Meyer, they're our team leaders," Humphrey said. "They force these other girls to get better ... our team never has any hesitation about any of the drills.

"We've got a good, close-knit group and they understand what it takes to be a good team. They work together on the court and off the court, they're together about all the time."

Meyer has been solid, averaging eight points and six rebounds. Rounding out the starting five are sophomores Reagan Brown (seven ppg.) and Hailee Potter (six ppg.). The first --- and sometimes, only --- player off the bench is 6-foot junior Kendall Dillon.

The team is averaging 58 ppg. --- and 56 of those points are supplied by the starters. So if this team has a weakness, it's a significant lack of depth.

"We've got some talented freshmen coming off the bench," Humphrey said, "it just comes down to how much floor time you can  get them."

Depth or not, so far, so very good. And with winning comes a lot of interest --- and with interest comes a lot of people in the stands.

"Over the years, we've developed a really good fan base," Humphrey said. "The originals have stuck with us and we've gotten a lot of new supporters. It's really special for the girls ... people probably don't realize how much of a difference that makes."

The Lady Bulldogs' district is shaping up to be a brutal battle. While South Cal is ranked 10th in the state, that's only good enough for third-best in this district --- Southern Boone is No. 7, California (which handed South Cal its only loss) is No. 9. And then there's Blair Oaks, which is always tough.

"I truly believe we're in the toughest district in the state," Humphrey said. "It's going to be intense. It seems like if you can get out of districts, the next step might be even easier."

So how far can they go?

"I'm not going to put any limits on these girls, I think the sky's the limit," Humphrey said. "They've got dreams of going to state and making the Final Four ... that would be something special.

"They made it to the quarterfinals last year, they loved that feeling and they want some more of it."

It's about time, after all, that a team not named Strafford gets to enjoy that feeling.