Chaffee girls basketball team uses big fourth quarter to pull away from Woodland

Editor's note: Story has been updated to correct name to Hannah Scott in Woodland boxscore.

CHAFFEE, MO. -- With five and a half minutes left in the game, Chaffee girls basketball coach Darrin Pruitt knew what to expect. He told his team as much.

As Pruitt yelled, "Watch the steal, watch the steal!" Julia Sutterfield stepped in front of an inbounds pass from Woodland, tossed it down the court to Kylie Wilhite and Wilhite drained a 3-pointer from the top of the arc, snapping a 44-all score and sending host and top-seeded Chaffee to a 64-48 win over the fifth-seeded Cardinals on Wednesday night in a semifinal of the Lady Devil Invitational at Chaffee High School.

Wilhite's game-breaking 3 sent the Red Devils on a 20-4 run to end the game, outscoring Woodland 26-11 in the game's final eight minutes.

"You hear it all the time, but it's nice to see kids step up and make the big play -- those big shots at the right time," Pruitt said. "It gives them a lot of confidence and you hope that seals the deal, and it did for us."

That triple sparked the swing, but it was also driven by forward Katie Glueck, who posted 13 points in the final quarter to finish with a double-double -- 18 points and 11 rebounds.

"I think we just started really playing," Glueck said of the fourth-quarter performance. "We started running our plays more, and it worked.

"It's really important to us [to win this tournament]. We won it last year, so we want to win it again this year."

Woodland's Mara Grindstaff pushes past Chaffee's Mattison Cline during the second quarter of a semifinal at the Lady Devils Invitational Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015 in Chaffee, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

Wilhite finished with 17 points while Sutterfield had 12 points, seven steals and six assists, despite battling some early foul trouble.

Woodland was paced by Krista Rhodes' 17 points, but the sophomore was streaky, going 5 of 19 from the floor, including 4 of 15 from 3-point range. The Cardinals shot 7 of 29 from long range.

Cheyenne Wells added 10 points for Woodland.

The Cardinals spent the whole night battling. Every time it seemed Chaffee might be starting to take control, Woodland clawed its way back with a mix of opportunistic offense and 3-point shots. It managed to enter the final quarter down by just one, 38-37, and took a 44-42 lead with 6:07 left in the fourth thanks to five straight points from Rhodes.

But Glueck layed the ball in to tie things at 44, and moments later, Sutterfield -- with help from her coaches -- read the Cardinals' inbounds play and sent the ball down the court for Wilhite's critical triple.

Glueck then hit back-to-back baskets, and the Red Devils were in control.

Chaffee Coach Darrin Pruitt shouts out to the team in the second quarter in a semifinal at the Lady Devils Invitational Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015 in Chaffee, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

"When they went on that run," Woodland coach Robert Stein said, "we missed four layups -- wide open shots you just can't miss -- we let them get out on an open 3, we fouled them once for three free throws. When you do the little things wrong, bad things happen, and when you do the little things right, good things happen.

"I never question my girls' effort -- they always play hard. We had a two-point lead really late in the game, and then they went on a [big] run. That's the reason they're the 1 seed, and we're the 5 seed, I guess. We had hoped maybe we could come in and surprise them and upset them."

It wasn't to be, but the Cardinals made Chaffee work for the win.

After falling into a 7-0 hole to start the game, Woodland answered back with a 3 from Rebekah Page and then another triple from Rhodes to remain close, 15-13, after one quarter.

Sutterfield returned to the floor in the second quarter after picking up some early fouls and quickly helped stretch her team's lead to 24-18 with 3:00 left in the second quarter.

The Chaffee student section cheers between quarters.

But just as it seemed the hosts might be gaining momentum, the Cardinals got back-to-back buckets from Whitney Lincoln and were able to keep things within one possession, 28-25, going into halftime.

Chaffee opened up a five-point advantage early in the second half, but again Woodland stuck with it, getting a pair of 3s from Rhodes to trail just 38-37 after three quarters.

The Red Devils, though, wanted a return to their home tournament's championship.

"I convinced the girls to slow the game down," Pruitt said. "That was the big thing. We weren't throwing the ball away as much. ... It took me three quarters to convince them of that."

Chaffee will await tonight's semifinal winner between second-seeded Oran and third-seeded Kelly. The Hawks defeated Delta in a quarterfinal matchup Wednesday.

The tournament championship will be played Saturday at 4 p.m., following a third-place game.

Woodland 13 12 12 11 -- 48

Chaffee 15 13 10 26 -- 64

WOODLAND (48) -- Whitney Lincoln 6, Shelby Sawyer 5, Hannah Scott 5, Krista Rhodes 17, Cheyenne Wells 10, Heidi Green 2, Rebekah Page 3. FG 15-59, FT 11-19, F 19. (3-pointers: Rhodes 4, Wells 2. Fouled out: None.)

CHAFFEE (64) -- Julia Sutterfield 12, Kyle Wilhite 17, Carliegh Burnett 5, Lyndsey Harrell 6, Katie Glueck 18, Mattison Cline 4, Mary Beth Knutson 2. FG 22-52, FT 17-27, F 15. (3-pointers: Wilhite 3. Fouled out: None.)