Holiday Classic newcomer Meadow Heights passes large test

Meadow Heights wanted to join the Show Me Center Holiday Classic in order to test itself against larger schools.

The Panthers passed their opening exam with flying colors.

Meadow Heights, seeded fifth for the 15th annual eight-team girls basketball tournament, rolled past fourth-seeded Central 56-28 in Monday's first round.

The Panthers will play top-seeded Farmington at 7 p.m. today in one semifinal. Central faces No. 8 Saxony Lutheran at 4 p.m. in a consolation semifinal.

"It adds a lot more competition to us. It makes us play harder and helps us get ready for all our other games," junior forward Whitney Welker said of being in the tournament for the first time.

Meadow Heights (6-1) advanced to the Class 2 quarterfinals the past two seasons. The Panthers had no senior starters a year ago.

"We're pretty much the same team as last year," coach Mitch Nanney said. "This is a chance to come test ourselves against bigger schools. We're excited to be in the tournament for the first time.

"We're the smallest school here. It's always a good thing to beat a Class 5 school."

The seasoned Panthers were simply too much for the inexperienced, cold-shooting Class 5 Tigers (2-5), who graduated six seniors off last year's squad. Meadow Heights led wire to wire.

"Of course I'm not real pleased with the way we played. We didn't handle their pressure," Central coach Sherri Shirrell said. "You have to give credit to Meadow Heights. They have a good ballclub."

Welker scored a game-high 18 points, 10 coming in a first half that ended with Meadow Heights on top 22-12.

Welker added six more third-quarter points as the Panthers broke things open with a 22-10 advantage to lead 44-22.

Things got even worse for the Tigers in the final period as they went without a point for the first 5 minutes, 55 seconds and fell behind 55-22.

Most of the last five minutes was played with a running clock used when a team leads by at least 30 points in the fourth quarter.

"We just played Meadow Heights ball. Full-court man-to-man [defense] and make you earn what you get," Welker said.

Senior guard Jillian Mills and junior forward Erin Bollman each added nine points for the Panthers.

"We could have played a lot better, but we did execute when we needed to," senior forward Heather Dietiker said. "Playing here [in the Show Me Center] is a big opportunity for all the girls who want to play college ball."

Sophomore forward Chelsea Vinson paced Central with 13 points.

Meadow Hts. 10 12 22 12 -- 56

Central 4 8 10 6 -- 28

MEADOW HEIGHTS (56) -- Mica Morse 4, Hattie Cook 6, Gina Cureton 3, Erin Bollman 9, Heather Dietiker 7, Whitney Welker 18, Jillian Mills 9. FG 19, FT 13-24, F 11. (3-pointers: Morse 1, Cook 2, Dietiker 1, Mills 1. Fouled out: none)

CENTRAL (28) -- Allie Hardesty 3, Alayah Cooper-Johnson 2, Bailey Kratochvil 4, Kadie Orenstein 2, Chelsea Pannier 2, Apolonia Thomas 2, Chelsea Vinson 13. FG 13, FT 2-4, F 17. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none)