Bismarck sinks Chaffee's hopes in girls district basketball final

BISMARCK, Mo. -- The Chaffee girls got off to a familiar slow start in Saturday's Class 2 District 3 championship.

This time the ending was different. The No. 3 seed Red Devils lost 46-38 to No. 5 seed and host Bismarck.

Chaffee committed turnovers on its first three possessions and fell behind 6-0.

"We seem to start off our games that way, with turnovers," Chaffee coach Darrin Pruitt said. "That always hurts us and we always come into a deficit. We did that again, and this time we didn't pull out of it."

The Red Devils started similarly in their come-from-behind semifinal upset of Meadow Heights, which put them in unfamiliar territory.

Chaffee's Ellie Sigman drives to the basket against Bismarck's Kaitlyn Loughary during the first quarter of the championship game of the Class 2 District 3 tournament Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013 in Bismarck, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

"They had a good season," Pruitt said. "Our record was a lot better than it's been in the past. They hadn't been to the championship in a long time, and they were here. Win or lose, they got here."

The Red Devils tried to utilize their advantage against Bismarck.

"We had a new offense that we ran today that focused more on post stuff because they weren't as tall," senior Ellie Sigman said.

The plan worked in that it got the Chaffee players inside looks, but too often that didn't translate into points.

"They weren't falling," Pruitt said. "We got a bunch of good looks inside, had some mismatches in there, but we just couldn't finish."

The Chaffee bench waits out the closing seconds of the championship game in the of the Class 2 District 3 tournament Saturday in Bismarck, Mo. The host Indians won 46-38.

Bismarck's lead grew to 25-16 by halftime, and Chaffee never gained a lead in the game. The Red Devils pulled to within four points when Adrienne Eichhorn hit a 3-pointer with 1 minute, 45 seconds left to make the score 42-38.

Bismarck's Darcy Latham, who had a game-high 17 points, made two free throws on her team's next possession and Chaffee did not score again.

Sigman finished with a team-high 11 points, while fellow senior Eichhorn added nine. They were the only two seniors on a roster that featured four juniors, five sophomores and four freshmen.

"We'll be back," Pruitt said. "We've got some good girls playing ball. We had a couple seniors there that kind of led the team, but we got some other girls ready to step up and make some big plays and get us right back here."

The Red Devils finished the season 13-13.

"This year we've changed Chaffee basketball," Sigman said. "We used to win like maybe four games a year, and this year we had a winning season and we got here."

Bismarck 11 14 12 9 -- 46

Chaffee 7 9 15 7 -- 38

BISMARCK (46) -- Kallie Pearl 3, Victoria Rodgers 2, Kaitlyn Loughary 4, Jessica Sago 12, Darey Latham 17, Jamey Kelly 8. FG 15, FT 11-14, F 17. (3-pointers: Pearl 1, Latham 2, Kelley 2. Fouled out: none)

CHAFFEE (38) -- Jordi Pruitt 2, Ellie Sigman 11, Adrienne Eichhorn 9, Lauren Whistler 2, Julia Sutterfield 3, Lindsey Koch 3, Lindsey Harrell 7. FG 12, FT 13-18, F 14. (3-pointers: Eichhorn 1. Fouled out: none)