B_001_CDT_2016_12_31
Sports
SECTION
B
Columbia Daily Tribune
Saturday, December 31, 2016
www.columbiatribune.com
INSIDE: CLASSIFIEDS
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
COUGARS
Women’s basketball
SATURDAY
Missouri Baptist
at Columbia, 1 p.m.
Wieser has
stormy start
for Cougars
BY MATT NESTOR
Timothy Tai photos/Tribune
Danni Nichols led Hickman with 15 points but the Kewpies sufered a 44-38 loss to Jeferson City in the State Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational inal Friday.
A cold winter’s night for Kewpies
Jeferson City hands
Hickman its irst loss
in tournament inal.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
State Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational
FRIDAY
Jeferson City 44, Hickman 38
BY CAMERON TEAGUE ROBINSON
[email protected] | 815-1781
JEFFERSON CITY — As the final buzzer sounded, a
large crowd at Helias High School stood up and cheered
for the winning team.
For the first nine games of the season, that sound followed the Hickman girls basketball team wherever it went.
Through the poor shooting nights and any other adversity,
the Kewpies found a way to be the team celebrating.
Friday was different.
Hickman, after shooting 3 of 20 from 3-point range, was
left standing in front of its bench in disappointment while
fourth-ranked Jefferson City celebrated a 44-38 win over
the second-ranked Kewpies in the State Farm Holiday
Hoops Inviational championship game.
Hickman (9-1) finished second for the second straight
season. Coach Anna Rorvig didn’t blame the shooting
woes.
“We were just totally outplayed flat-out,” Rorvig said.
“Jeff City wanted to win more than we did. They outhustled and outworked us. Like I told them, ‘Bad shooting
nights can’t turn into nights where you get outworked.’ “
Trailing 13-12, Hickman’s zone defense halted the Jays’
offense in the second period. Jefferson City (11-0) scored
just two points in the quarter. Hickman opened up a 25-15
lead at the half.
“Our shots weren’t falling in the first half, and I told the
kids that I thought they were playing tentative,” Jefferson
City Coach Brad Conway said. “I thought if we could make
some shots we would be OK.”
Despite the lead, Rorvig said she never felt like her team
was in control.
“I felt, by looking at their facial expressions, that we
Hickman’s Nyjah White looks to pass out of a double team from Jeferson City’s McKenzie Gourley
(20) and Lexy Haug on Friday in the State Farm
Holiday Hoops Invitational inal in Jeferson City.
were playing not to lose,” Rorvig said. “I told them in the
locker room, ‘You have to want to win more than you fear
losing.’ “
Jefferson City came out of the half in a zone of its own,
preventing Hickman from getting anything inside, and the
shooting woes began.
“We just stopped looking to get the ball inside. We didn’t
have any penetration,” Rorvig said.
A Danni Nichols layup with 1:30 left in the third quarter
gave Hickman its first points of the half, but the Jays had
their own trouble scoring. Jefferson City scored eight
points in the third. Nichols scored all five of Hickman’s,
pushing her total to a game-high 15.
Trailing 30-23 entering the fourth, the Jays finally got
going. The Kewpies did not.
“I’m stubborn enough to think we are always still in the
game,” Rorvig said. “I’m not sure if we had five people on
the floor who thought they were still in the game.”
Jefferson City tied the game at 30 with 6:25 left. Two possessions later it took a 32-30 lead and expanded the
advantage until a Cassie Kent 3-pointer found the net with
1:06 left in the game.
Kent’s shot was the Kewpies’ first basket of the quarter
and their second made 3-pointer of the night.
“We were cold the first half, and they went cold the second half, and we made just enough free throws to get it
done,” Conway said.
Neither Rorvig nor Nichols could remember a time
when they shot the ball as poorly from deep as they did
Friday.
Despite that cold shooting, Nichols thought each time
Kent, Taylor Spencer, or any teammate shot the ball that it
was going in.
They usually do.
On Friday they rarely did, and the Kewpies picked up
their first loss since last year’s Class 5 quarterfinal.
“It’s hard when you are 9-0 and your coach is telling
you, ‘We need to be better at this and this,’ “ Rorvig said.
“But maybe a loss will bring some of the things we have
talked about to the forefront and maybe give them a little
bit more sense of urgency to improve upon on those
things.”
Tolton girls keep playing and keep winning
BY JOE VOZZELLI
[email protected] | 815-1788
MOBERLY — Nothing could
stop the Tolton girls basketball
team from continuing its hot
streak.
Not a sluggish start nor a more
well-rested opponent.
The Trailblazers, who were playing their fourth game in as many
days, extended their winning
streak to 10 games with a 52-31
triumph over South Callaway at
the MRMC Holiday Shootout on
Friday.
“You worry about having tired
legs, but I told the kids, ‘Being tired
is an excuse, and we don’t deal in
excuses,’ “ saud Tolton Coach Curt
Riley, who recalled his team played
four games in three days last year
GIRLS BASKETBALL
MRMC Shootout
FRIDAY
Tolton 52, South Callaway 31
during Christmas break. “They
agreed and said, ‘Let’s go get it
done.’ “
Many opponents this season
have concentrated their defensive
efforts on not letting 6-foot-4 forward Michaela Wright beat them.
The Bulldogs, who had a nine-day
layover between games, were no
different.
With 6-foot center Konnor Arrowood as the primary defender,
South Callaway often doubled
Wright in the post, limiting the
senior to nine points on as many
attempts from the field.
The problem for the Bulldogs
was that Tolton (10-1) had a Plan B,
as its guards, led by Haleigh Berrey,
were too much for South Callaway
(6-3) to handle.
“They had a good post who was
guarding our good post, so it was
hard to get it in there,” said Berrey,
who netted a game-high 14 points.
“Once we started moving the ball
around the perimeter, our shots
started to fall.”
Fresh off a 57-48 victory in the
championship game of the Duchesne Christmas Tournament on
Thursday night, Riley watched his
team adjust on the fly less than 24
hours later.
The Trailblazers, whose shooters moved well without the ball,
found space around the perimeter. Whenever the second
defender arrived, Wright passed
it back outside to Tolton’s guards,
who knocked down those open
looks, especially in the second
half.
The Trailblazers overcame an
inauspicious opening quarter.
After turning the ball over on
five of its first 12 possessions,
Tolton strung together a 30-8
run spanning the final six minutes of the second quarter and
all of the third to open up a sizable gap.
“I figured the longer that game
went, we’d get it rolling and get our
legs underneath us,” Riley said. “I
knew if we could get a couple shots
down and hit a couple threes and
get some stops, that run would
take place.”
With less than six minutes left in
the game, Blair Widmer’s put-back
basket off Wright’s missed shot put
Tolton ahead 48-22.
The Trailblazers forced South
Callaway into 13 turnovers. The
Bulldogs shot 28.6 percent from
the field compared to 44.4 percent
from Tolton.
“We thought that the best
thing we could do is take away
their post game because” Wright
“can be a force inside,” South
Callaway Coach Darren Humphrey said. “When you can hold
a player like her to nine points,
that’s a win for us, but they had
some guards who hit some big
shots for them.”
[email protected] | 815-1786
Jessica Keller accidently let Raegan Wieser’s nickname slip during
a Columbia College women’s basketball practice.
During her playing days at
Quincy University,
Keller
played alongside Alex Wieser,
and little sister
Raegan spent a
lot of time in the
arena.
One
day
recently, Keller
Wieser
referred to Wieser as “Storm,” her self-given moniker from a few years back.
“All the girls have been calling
her ‘Storm,’ ” Keller said.
Storms often come out of
nowhere and can be fierce. And
opponents have to keep an eye on
what might be brewing.
Whether she’s flashing on the
outside or bringing the thunder
inside, Wieser has been a key contributor to Columbia’s 11-2 start.
For example, in a 69-65 victory
over then-No. 12 Baker on Dec. 7,
Wieser shot 4 for 4 from 3-point
range on her way to a season-high
17 points. Three nights later, Wieser helped shut down HannibalLaGrange near the basket, collecting four blocks and 11 defensive
rebounds. She still finished with 11
points on her way to winning
American Midwest Conference
Player of the Week honors.
“It’s a luxury, for sure, because
we can play her at different spots
and with all different lineups,”
Keller said. “I think she understands that.”
The 13th-ranked Cougars get
into the heart of AMC play with a
1 p.m. matchup Saturday against
Missouri Baptist. Columbia then
opens the new year with road
games at Freed-Hardeman and
Williams Baptist.
Wieser is fourth on the Cougars
with 10.6 points per game and 5.7
rebounds per game. She’s second
with nine blocks and also has 10
steals. Wieser is hitting on 36.7
percent of her field goals, but she
can do some damage from the
free-throw line, hitting 28 of 30 on
the season.
The 5-foot-11 Saxony Lutheran
product said that once she visited
Columbia College, there was no
second choice. Wieser was a second-team all-state volleyball player as a junior. As a senior, Wieser as
first-team all-state in soccer and
basketball. The soccer team won a
state championship — with Wieser
being named Class 1’s goalkeeper
of the year — and the basketball
team finished second.
“The kids that have fulfilled
multiple demands know how to
work hard at what they’re doing,”
said Keller, who also mentions
Morgan Brandt and Ashlee Marlatt, who both played softball.
“Now, they’re able to really focus
on honing their basketball skills.”
Wieser said she had scholarship
offers in other sports but was
intent on playing basketball. Her
athletic versatility transferred to
the court, which allows her to play
multiple roles.
Wieser is a tough matchup
wherever Keller puts her. On the
perimeter, she can shoot over
smaller guards and drive around
bigger defenders. Undersized on
the block, Wieser can use her
quickness to gain an advantage.
“My dad always had me doing
stuff inside and outside since I was
young. I’ve been doing that since I
was a little kid,” Wieser said.
The Cougars will mix up her
assignments — from Martha Imoniana and Mai Nienhueser under
the basket to guards like Grey
Hayes and Marlatt — in practice to
keep her on her toes.
“Coming in as a freshman, you
just want to work as hard as you
can, do your best,” Wieser said.
Blues blanked
Seminole win
Request denied
Houston out
The St. Louis Blues
lose 4-0 at home to
the Nashville Predators. Story on 3B
In a thrilling Orange Bowl,
Florida State builds a lead,
loses it and rallies to beat
Michigan. Story on 4B
Aldon Smith’s appeal to
get back on the field this
season for the Raiders is
denied. Story on 5B
The Chiefs rule out
Justin Houston for
Sunday’s regular-season finale. Story on 5B