Cubs will play for third place

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Bell City freshman Jasmine Johnson displayed her powerful hitting and strong defense in the round robin of the Class 1 state tournament Friday against Sacred Heart, Eminence and Santa Fe.

She posted 29 kills and 37 digs in six games -- two games against each team.

But her effort was just not enough.

The Cubs struggled offensively when Johnson rotated to the back row and they finished the round robin with a 3-3 record behind Sacred Heart (5-1) and Eminence (4-2).

Bell City will play Santa Fe (0-6) at 9 a.m. today in the third-place match at the Municipal Auditorium.

Bell City's Jasmine Johnson leaps up to make a kill against Eminence during their Class 1 round-robin semifinals Friday in Kansas City, Mo.

Sacred Heart and Eminence, the two schools with the best records, will play in the Class 1 championship game.

Sacred Heart, the Class 1 defending champion and No. 1 ranked team in the state, swept Bell City 25-13, 25-23 to begin the tournament. Bell City then split with No. 2-ranked Eminence 25-19, 20-25 and swept Santa Fe 25-20, 25-20.

"When Jasmine was in the back row, we had trouble pulling out our offense, and I think that's what hurt us a lot," junior Alicia Slagley said.

Bell City struggled against the superior front-row size of Sacred Heart, a team led by power-hitting 6-foot senior Laura McMullin and 5-11 senior Paige Shipley, who combined for 17 kills and five blocks in the two-game match against the Cubs.

Bell City (24-9-3) does not have much size and struggled blocking. The Cubs had no blocks against Sacred Heart and one against Eminence.

AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.comBell City's Bethany Chilton knocks the ball over the net against Sacred Heart during the Class One state semi-finals on Thursday, November 7, 2008 in Kansas City.

"With our freshman, Jasmine, in the back row, we really don't have an offense in some rotations," senior Bethany Chilton said. "So we kind of struggled in those rotations and we tried to fight through them, but we kind of got stuck there. [Sacred Heart], they've got some tall girls, and that's one thing that kind of made us play bad."

Johnson is a big reason why the Cubs made it to the final four. She leads the team with 427 kills and 484 digs.

Cubs coach Erin Hoffman knew it would be a challenge for her team when Johnson was in the back row.

"That's kind of the way it's been all year," Hoffman said. "So we knew that was going to happen. And Jasmine was very aggressive out of the back row, attacking from the back row, too."

Hoffman said she was impressed with her team's defense. Bell City had 46 or more digs in each of its three matches. The trouble came after the digs were made.

AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.comBell City's Bethany Chilton knocks the ball over the net against Sacred Heart during the Class One state semi-finals on Thursday, November 7, 2008 in Kansas City.

"I think our biggest trouble today was offense," Hoffman said. "I think our back row did real well. Our passing was very consistent. We dug a lot of balls we probably shouldn't have, but then we just couldn't get our offense going."

The Cubs nearly sneaked into the championship match against Sacred Heart.

Approximately five hours after being swept by Sacred Heart, Cubs players were standing with nervous expressions on their faces, anxiously rooting for the Gremlins to sweep Eminence in the final round of the round robin.

Eminence ended up splitting its two games with Sacred Heart, winning the second game 25-22 to earn a spot in the title game.

As Eminence players celebrated, Bell City players walked away frustrated that they would not get another shot at Sacred Heart.

If Eminence had lost both its games to Sacred Heart, both Bell City and Eminence would have had 3-3 records. And Bell City would have advanced to the title match because it had outscored Eminence 45-44 in their two-game match.

"We can't really say Sacred Heart should've won [against Eminence]," Slagley said. "We should've played harder against Eminence and we shouldn't have split."

After the two losses to Sacred Heart, Johnson had 15 kills and 15 digs against Eminence.

"She doesn't talk a lot, but when she gets that kill, we get fired up, and that's what she really does for our team," Slagley said. "She talks through her hitting."

Johnson also was strong in the loss to Eminence. At one point, she scored four straight points for her team on kills.

"I'm positive Jasmine will be a dominating force for the next three years," Hoffman said.

Looking back, Hoffman said her team missed some good opportunities, including failing to win its second game against Sacred Heart after leading 19-14.

"The second game we almost beat them," Hoffman said. "Maybe it was our inexperience. Maybe we were overwhelmed. I don't know. But I think Sacred Heart knew how to finish the game. They knew how to keep going until that final point. We had a real hard time with that today."

Bell City has not reached the title game in its last three trips to state.

"We just tried and played our hardest, and we knew all these games were going to be hard, and we just kind of played a little bit bad and it just didn't work out," Chilton said.