Title-clinching shot

By Phil Ervin Special to the News-Press

Molly Stiens penned the latest chapter in a storied girls high school basketball series, giving Maryville its second straight Bishop LeBlond Holiday Tournament championship in the process.

With her team trailing by two, the Spoofhounds’ senior guard took an in-bound pass with 1.1 second left, turned 180 degrees and nailed an arching three-pointer from the top of the key as the buzzer sounded.

The 35-34 victory avenged the Golden Eagles’ victory Dec. 4 in the Savannah Tournament Championship (63-44) and gave Maryville its third LeBlond crown in four years.

“I was really nervous,” said Stiens, who earned tournament MVP honors. “It was sort of a luck shot.

“It pumps us up when we play LeBlond. Winning this two years in a row was a really big thing.”

As if losing two straight title games to Maryville in LeBlond’s own tournament wasn’t enough, the Spoofhounds’ district championship victories against the Eagles in 2009 and 2010 make this loss sting even more.

Grant Hageman knows the feeling, however, as he recalled Maryville’s loss two years ago when Kelly Walker hit a last-second shot to give the hosts the 2008 LeBlond title.

“The first thing we thought was ‘hey, they did that to us two years ago,’” Hageman said of the Eagles. “It’s always fun to play a team like that. We love playing down here.”

LeBlond had several chances to ice the back-and-forth contest during the final minute.

Hailey Slater answered Wilmarth’s last three with 1 ½ minutes to go, giving the Eagles a 34-32 lead.

McClellan fouled out half a minute later after Maryville failed to convert on offense. Slater missed both double-bonus free throws.

With 11.8 seconds left, Maryville’s Brooke Byland missed two free throws of her own. LeBlond’s Conner Hazelrigg dove on the long rebound and called timeout with 10.2 seconds left. The Spoofhounds fouled Slater with 4.2 seconds left, but she again missed both attempts from the stripe.

Gadbois’ first in-bounds pass for Stiens with 1.7 seconds left was tipped out of bounds by LeBlond’s Erin Christiansen. Hageman drew up a similar play after calling a timeout, but had Stiens set up at the top instead of the corner.

That winning play provided a dramatic finish to a contest that started off slow.

A put-back by LeBlond center Ashburn Holley over five minutes into the game marked the first points by either team, and the score was 3-2 after a quarter and 12-10 at halftime.

Maryville’s Holly Wilmarth hit three second-half shots from beyond the arc to keep things close and finish with a game-high 13 points. LeBlond’s Jackie Ziesel and Stiens both scored 10 points.

“We’re really, really excited,” Stiens said after the game. “We feel our potential now, and feel like we can get on a roll the rest of the season and start playing really good.”

Two key players for each squad went down with injuries.

Taylor Gadbois of Maryville and Ziesel were both shaken up during the second quarter, and the Spoofhounds’ Shannon McClellan and LeBlond’s Holley hit the floor hard going for separate fourth-quarter loose balls.

The two conference opponents face each other again Feb. 24 in Maryville, Mo.

Phil Ervin can be reached at npsports@newspressnow.com.