Charleston rallies past Chaffee girls to win Scott-Mississippi Conference tournament title

BENTON, Mo. -- It's often said small things make a difference in a ball game.

That might be true, but a small person also can determine an outcome.

For proof, look no further than Charleston's Sierra Frazier, a slender 5-foot senior who is routinely dwarfed on the basketball court.

Frazier scored 11 of the Bluejays' 12 points in the final two minutes in the championship game of Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament on Friday, including a pair of free throws that broke a tie with two seconds left, as third-seeded Charleston used a strong second half for the second consecutive night to rally for a 59-57 win over top-seeded Chaffee.

Frazier, who finished with a game-high 29 points, hit a 3-pointer with 14 seconds after a Chaffee turnover to tie the game before giving the Bluejays (10-2) just their second lead of the night with her free throws.

"She's grown up a lot," Charlston coach Josh Thompson said. "In the past it's been tough for her. She's struggled a little bit with her size. Tonight, I think she used her quickness and everything. She wanted the ball at the end, and I think that's part of being a senior."

Frazier, Class 3 second-team all-state as a junior, wasn't the only one who was outsized by Chaffee (11-3).

"Every matchup we had, we had a smaller player," Thompson said. "That's something we're used to. That's why we talk about we want to wear them out with our pace of the game, and we did. When we go play Saxony or Arcadia Valley in district, we know they're going to be bigger than we are, so we have to play faster."

Charleston, with its up-tempo, full-court pressure, forced 29 turnovers in the game, including 10 in the third quarter and eight in the fourth -- two in the final minute.

"Basketball, people think it comes down to a game of scoring, who has the highest score, but really it comes down to a game of mistakes," Chaffee coach Darrin Pruitt said. "Whoever makes the most mistakes, is usually the one that comes up with the least score. "

Chaffee led throughout the game and threatened to turn a rare appearance in the title game into an easy victory, leading by as many as 18 points in the first half.

The Red Devils led 36-24 at halftime and scored the first three points of the second half to extend their advantage to 15 points.

"I think we were a little jet-lagged in the first half. We had a tough game against Kelly last night," Thompson said about a 68-64 upset win Thursday night. "It really showed in the first half. We were tired and weren't playing at the pace we want to play at. At halftime we made a few energy adjustments."

Hot hands from behind the 3-point arc helped inject life into the Bluejays.

Charleston trailed 41-26 when Frazier commenced a 13-0 run with a drive inside with 6:26 left in the third quarter. Chaffee turned the ball over on its next three possessions and Charlston connected on a 3-pointer after each, Frazier first hitting and followed by Juwanna Walker and Cheyenne Randle.

The Bluejays had gone on a similar run a night earlier with an 11-0 burst to open up the second half against Kelly after trailing at the break.

"They really work that second half, and we were prepared for that, for them to come in and play really hard the second half," Pruitt said. "We did what I asked of the girls, overall."

Charleston pulled even at 42-42 on a Connor Watkins 3-pointer -- her only points of the game -- from the top of the key with 2:43 left in the third period and then took its first lead of the game when Randle deposited her own rebound with 1:30 left in the third quarter.

Half of Charleston's 20 field goals in the game came from behind against the Chaffee zone.

"We just weren't rotating well enough," Pruitt said about the Red Devils' defense.

Chaffee tied the game at 44-44 when Carleigh Burnett banked in a running 10-footer with 16 seconds left in the quarter, and the Red Devils took a 45-44 lead into the fourth quarter on a Julia Sutterfield free throw.

The three points were part of a 10-0 Chaffee run that extended midway into the fourth quarter.

Charleston missed its first six shots from the field in the fourth period and committed four turnovers before it finally ended the Red Devils' run with a Frazier free throw with 3:47 left, trimming Chaffee's lead to 52-45.

Chaffee saw the lead cut to 54-52 with just over a minute to play, but the Red Devils appeared to regroup when free throws by Sutterfield and Lindsey Harrell gave the Red Devils a 57-52-lead with 42 seconds left.

"We wanted to burn off some time but they're young," Pruitt said. "I realize they're seniors out there, but they're still young kids at heart. We gave the ball up and it cost us in the end there."

Frazier scored the game's final seven points, first scoring on a drive to the basket with 34 seconds left to cut the lead to 57-54.

"I thought Chaffee got tired there at the end of the second quarter and especially there in the fourth quarter," Thompson said. "But that's what we want to do. We know we're not going to win games the first and second quarter. We want to wear them down going into the fourth quarter and let our conditioning take over."

Charleston then forced a turnover with its pressing defense and Thompson called timeout with 21 seconds left.

"I either wanted a wide-open 3 or take the ball to the basket," Thompson said. " A wide open 3 presented itself, and we took it."

Frazier got the open look from the right side and made good on the opportunity with 14 seconds left.

She had missed her previous four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

"It felt like glory," I had a feeling it was [going in]," Frazier said about her game-tying shot.

Chaffee's 29th turnover of the game proved deadly, as it was followed with a foul as Frazier drove into the key.

The Bluejays finished 10 of 28 from behind the arc, with Frazier accounting for four and Walker netting three.

"We knew she was a shooter and they had a couple other girls hit some outside shots," Pruitt said about Frazier. "We did our best to cover them. I think we pretty much shut everyone else's points down, because usually they have a bout three girls in the 20-point range and tonight Frazier was the only one that got in that area."

Walker finished with 10 points.

Freshman MaryBeth Knutson led Chaffee with 15 points, while senior Jordan Pruitt finished with 14.

The loss was a tough one for the Red Devils, but Chaffee will get a chance for revenge in a regular-season game in February.

"This s a great experience," Darrin Pruitt said. "It's going to make us tougher as we go on and get into postseason play."

Kelly takes third

Second-seeded Kelly received 14 points from senior Morgan LeDure in bouncing back from a four-point loss in the semifinals with a 52-40 win over Oran in the third-place game.

Senior Tessa Johnson added 11 points.

Junior Ashlyn McIntosh scored a game-high 16 points for the Eagles (8-4).

Kelly (9-5) led 28-22 at halftime and took a 39-36 lead into the fourth quarter, where it outscored Oran 13-4.

Championship

Charleston 59, Chaffee 57

Charleston 11 13 20 15 -- 59

Chaffee 19 17 9 12 -- 57

CHARLESTON (59) -- Fa'Quaia Wilson 4, Sierra Frazier 29, Frederica Evans 3, Juwanna Walker 10, Cheyenne Randle 7, Chanelle Quinn 3, Connor Watkins 3. FG 20, FT 9-18, F 21 (3-pointers: Frazier 4, Evans, Walker 3. Fouled out: none)

CHAFFEE (57) -- Jordan Pruitt 14, Julia Sutterfield 6, Kylie Wilhite 5, Lindsey Koch 4, Carleigh Burnett 4, Mary Beth Knutson 15, Lindsey Harrell 9. FG 20, FT 14-29, F 16 (3-pointers: Pruitt 2, Wilhite. Fouled out: none)

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Third place

Kelly 42, Oran 40

Oran 9 13 14 4 -- 40

Kelly 14 14 11 13 -- 52

ORAN (40) -- Briann Stause 8, Tatum May 7, Ashlyn McIntosh 16, Kaylen Glastetter 2, Hannah Scherer 7. FG 15, FT 8-15, F 18 (3-pointers: Stause 2. Fouled out: Scherer)

KELLY (52) -- Tori Duenne 4, Morgan LeDure 14, Kaylee Scherer 2, Tessa Johnson 11, Stephanie Worth 6, Logan Ivie 6, Kristi Brucker 7, Dakaria Johnson 2. FG 18, FT 12-22, F 15 (3-pointers: LeDure 2, Johnson 2. Fouled out: none)