Bell City, Oran earn spots in district championship

DELTA, Mo. -- Top-seed Bell City, the state's fifth-ranked 1A team, displayed a consistent offensive effort to slip past Advance 74-63 and into the final of the Class 1A, District 2 tournament.

The win for the Cubs (23-5), along with Oran's victory over Bernie, sets up an intriguing final matchup on Thursday.

The two teams have met three times this season with Oran owning two close decisions -- two and four points -- and Bell City winning the last meeting by eight points.

Eric Henry led Bell City with 21 points, followed by

Dominitrix Johnson with 19 points, C. J. Hadley 13 and Jason Rampley 10.

Advance (18-9) got double-figure scoring from Jared Ritter (20), Cain Kelley (19) and Andrew Jenkins (12).

Oran 53, Bernie 49

DELTA, Mo. -- Oran rallied from a six-point first-half deficit to squeeze past Bernie and reach the finals of the Class 1A, District 2 tournament.

Nate Seyer (16), Patrick Friga (15) and Matt Seyer (11) led Oran (21-6).

Bernie (19-7) was topped by Chad Woolridge, who led all scorers with 25 points.

South Iron 49, Leopold 48

FREDERICKTOWN, Mo. -- South Iron's Matt Davis hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to prevent No. 7 Leopold from pulling off a big first-round upset in the Class 1A, District 3 tournament.

South Iron (22-5), the No. 2 seed, played without its leading scorer Chad Middleton, who missed the game due to illness.

Leopold, which led by 10 points late in the game, closed its season at 10-14.

Kevin Holzum led Leopold with 22 points, while Matt Davis matched that total for South Iron. Josh Vandeven added 11 for Leopold.

Girls' basketball

Valle 46, St. Vincent 36

FREDERICKTOWN, Mo. -- Valle broke open a game knotted at the half, 21-21, with a big third quarter to eliminate St. Vincent from the Class 1A, District 3 tournament.

Kara Schilli led Valle with 15 points, while Chelsey Brown paced St. Vincent (8-17) with nine.