Chaffee girls basketball team claims long-awaited district crown

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- The mentality of the Chaffee girls basketball team hasn't changed all season.

But as the Red Devils struggled against an aggressive Scott County Central defense for the first 16 minutes of the Class 2 District 1 championship, they needed to be reminded of how much success that mentality had provided them up to that point.

"It was Julia Sutterfield's idea," Chaffee junior Lindsey Koch said. "She's kind of our pack leader. She's kind of the mom of everybody, and before all of us could get there [in the locker room], she wrote 'family' up on the board. I think coming into the locker room all of us broke down because we know that's why we're here. That's how we got all of this. We're here for each other, and as soon as we saw that, it was a pretty good reminder that we all needed to step up for each other and win this game."

The simple message stood out to top-seeded Chaffee, which responded in the second half and used a strong fourth quarter to pull away and eventually secure a 63-49 victory over the No. 2 Bravettes on Friday at Bloomfield High School.

"There were probably some nerves at first from everybody. But you come into this and you don't want games that are 30-point games. You want to be prepared for that next level," Chaffee coach Darrin Pruitt said. "Scott County Central came out here and knew they would play hard, and we wanted that from them. They gave us a good game, and we think that makes us better for the next level."

In just his fourth season as the Red Devils' coach, Pruitt helped Chaffee erase a three-plus decade district championship drought.

Friday night's win marked the first time Chaffee has won a district crown since 1978. The Red Devils also improved to 22-5, marking the most single-season wins in school history.

"I just started out four years ago, just trying to get success for the girls," Pruitt said. "So I mean tonight was a big part of that. It was great to get this win and share this moment with them and look ahead to what's next for us."

The Red Devils will play the winner of the District 1 championship between Neelyville and Alton in a sectional game at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff.

"It means the world. We got so close my freshman year," Koch said. "We didn't play at our hardest then. We didn't play as a family or anything, and this year we really are a family."

Things didn't always look good for the Red Devils, who trailed to the underdog Bravettes 39-38 after a basket by SCC freshman Johneisha Daniel with 2 minutes, 51 seconds left in the third quarter.

"I just wanted the girls to just come out and compete. You can't look at records, and we're both in the championship game," SCC coach Matt Limbaugh said. "So you hope you can just come out and give your best effort. I though my team responded well and really was in this thing."

Chaffee senior Jordin Pruitt answered, knocking down her second basket of the half to spark a 5-0 run for the Red Devils, who led 45-39 with 1:25 left in the third.

On SCC's next possession, sophomore Maddison Avance scored a layup, was fouled and made her free throw to cut the lead to 45-42 with 55 seconds left in the third.

"At the beginning of that half, we were looking for shots, and it seemed like she was the only one who was aggressive," Limbaugh said about Avance. "I'm glad she did because it took a little while for other girls to wake up. So Maddison really kept us in the game there until we got the other girls going."

Koch made a jump shot with 42 seconds left to give the Red Devils a five-point lead heading into the final quarter.

A 9-3 run by Chaffee to start the final quarter gave the Red Devils their largest lead of the game at 58-45 with 4:28 to play and all but sealed the victory.

"We wanted to keep the clock running as much as possible. We had the points, and we didn't want that clock to stop. So that was kind of our goal," Pruitt said.

SCC couldn't find an answer to Chaffee's stall and was held without a basket for the next four minutes.

The Bravettes were also playing without their leading scorer in a crucial part of the game. Limbaugh said it hindered his team's chances in the final minutes.

"We played a great first three quarters, and then when [Hailey] Kesler picked up her fourth foul in the third quarter, it kind of got us off ship a little bit," Limbaugh said. "She's kind of our ring leader, so you could kind of tell we were out of sync. But you also credit Chaffee. They're a great team, and they hit some big shots in the second half. Where our shots were falling in the first, they weren't in the second. That's part of the game."

Kesler scored the Bravettes' first basket of the third to give her team a 32-31 lead at the 7:30 mark, but the sophomore was whistled for her fourth foul a minute later and sat out for the remainder of the quarter. She returned in the fourth but didn't score for the rest of the game. Kesler finished with 16 points to lead SCC.

"That was kind of nice that she did that because she was making some shots out there," Pruitt said about Kesler. "We knew a lot about their players. We knew which one of them did what, but sometimes it's kind of hard to get through traffic and get to somebody to stop them from doing that. Luckily for us, she didn't come through there at the end."

Chaffee made four free throws in the final minute of the game and didn't allow SCC to score until less than a minute remaining.

Chaffee led 15-9 at the end of the first quarter but let the Bravettes back into the game in the second. SCC outscored the Red Devils 21-16 and was clinging to a 31-30 lead at halftime.

"I honestly think it was our defense. We didn't contest enough shots in the first half," Koch said about Chaffee's sluggish performance in the second. "Our shooters were a little off there for awhile, our free throws killed us because we missed so many. Free throws win ball games, so we did not want to miss on more from that point on."

Despite a rough defensive performance, the Red Devils made up for it with offense. Four players finished in double figures, including Sutterfield with 15. Pruitt added 14, and Kylie Wilhite and Lindsey Harrell contributed 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Pruitt said it will take that same effort and a few more tweaks against any team they play for the remainder of the season.

"We've got to move the ball around a little better I think and work on being quicker," Pruitt said. "Either of those two teams will be good competiton, and we're just going to bring everything that we've got. We'll need a full team effort again."

SCC 9 21 12 7 -- 49

Chaffee 15 16 16 16 -- 63

SCC (49) -- Hailey Kesler 16, Johneisha Daniel 12, Ziaire Davis 10, Maddison Avance 7, Chelsea Phillips 2, Miranda Ruedrich 2. FG 19, FT 7-14, F 16 (3-pointers: Kesler 2, Davis 2. Fouled out: none.)

CHAFFEE (63) -- Julia Sutterfield 15, Jordi Pruitt 14, Kylie Wilhite 13, Lindsey Harrell 10, Carleigh Burnett 8, Lindsey Koch 3. FG 27, FT 5-12, F 13 (3-pointers: Pruitt 3, Wilhite 1. Fouled out: none.)