Tigers' rally falls short

OSAWATOMIE -- Early in the fourth quarter of an Osawatomie Class 4A Sub-State semifinal game here Thrusday night, Fort Scott High School's girls could have easily written off their season. They trailed by 16 points and had already been called for enough fouls that Spring Hill was in the two-shot bonus before the period began.

Six-and-a-half minuutes later, after three players had already fouled out, the Tigers were within 3 points. Time was not their ally, however, as the Broncos managed to hold off the rallying redclads to advance to Saturday's final by a 49-43 score.

Fort Scott's season ended with a record of 15-7. The second-seeded Tigers had an eight-game winning streak broken. Third-seeded Spring Hill (15-7) moves on to meet Ottawa (20-2) Saturday's final. The top-seeded Cyclones defeated Louisburg, 47-38.

The Tigers trailed 12-7 after one period of play and the Broncos managed to increase that by scoring the first 6 of the second.

Fort Scott had just 5 free throws in the second and no field goals, yet managed to trail by only 9 points, 21-12, at halftime.

The offense began to stir early in the third as Sammi Therwhanger and Jolee Sharp opened the period with consecutive hoops. Jamie Hodge made a 3-point shot for Spring Hill but Megan McDermed drove in for her first score of the night to bring the Tigers within 24-18 with 3:51 remaining.

The Broncos outscored the Tigers the rest of the quarter 9-2 with 7 of those points coming from the free-throw line. Ashley Miller scored off a steal to start the fourth quarter and Hodge hit one of two free throws to increase Spring Hill's lead to 36-20 with 7:18 left in the contest.

Fort Scott scored the next 9 points with a Sharp layup cutting the deficit to 36-29 with under 5 1/2 minutes to go.

Sharp converted a 3-point play with just over two minutes to go to bring the Tigers within 42-38.

Hodge made two free throws for Spring Hill. Sharp hit three of her next four charity tosses to get Fort Scott within 44-41 with 1:36 to go.

That was as close as the Tigers got as Spring Hill scored 5 of the last 7 points of the game.

Sharp led all scorers with 26 points. Therwhanger was next with 6. Erica Simpson led Spring Hill with 15 points followed by Hodge, who scored all 10 of hers in the second half.

There were 47 fouls called in the game. In the second half alone, the teams combined to shoot 42 free throws.

Sub-State play continues tonight with Fort Scott's boys taking on Ottawa at 6 p.m. The other boys' match-up has fifth-seeded Louisburg taking on top seed Osawatomie at 7:30.

The Tigers (14-7) are the tournament's No. 3 seed and have won four straight games. Ottawa (17-3) is the No. 2 seed and champion of the Frontier League. The Cyclones have won their last eight games. The loss before the winning streak began was to Class 6A Olathe Northwest. Ottawa is also ranked No. 4 in Class 4A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association.

Louisburg (12-9) upset Spring Hill Tuesday night 62-52. Osawatomie (19-2), ranked No. 8 and champion of the Pioneer League, has won 12 straight games including Monday night's 65-21 rout of eighth-seeded Prairie View.

The boys' championship game will be played at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night.

(3) SPRING HILL: Miller 8, Hodge 10, Lloyd 2, Simpson 15, Czereda 9, Ravnikar 0, Carbajo 0, Gilliland 2, Swope 2. TOTAL: 49.

(2) FORT SCOTT: Sharp 26, Therwhanger 6, Carpenter 3, Tourtillott 0, Shelton 3, Harper 0, Allen 3, McDermed 5, Campbell 0. TOTAL: 43.

Three-point field goals: n/a.

Total fouls: Spring Hill 22, Fort Scott 25. Fouled out: Lloyd, Therwhanger, Carpenter, Harper. Technical foul: Fort Scott bench.