HORNETS, LADY EAGLES TO FACE CHALLENGES IN 1A SECTIONALS

Ultimately, Columbia is where Advance wants to go.

But to get there, the Hornets will have to get past Thayer.

Advance, the fourth-ranked team in Class 1A, will take on Thayer tonight in a Class 1A sectional game at Poplar Bluff High School.

Thayer (25-3) won a 53-52 overtime regional game against South Iron on Monday. The Bobcats won the game in amazing fashion, forcing overtime on two free throws then coming from nine points down in overtime to claim the victory.

Thayer is a deliberate basketball team which prefers ball control over an open-court style.

"They're well coached and play very good defense," said Advance coach Jim Hall. "They have five nice starters. Their point guard is very much like Adam Rainey. They have a 6-6 post man. They're a good ballclub."

"We play a tough schedule," said Thayer coach Cliff Hawkins. "No 1A school has played us close except South Iron."

Advance posted an 11-point win over South Iron earlier this year.

Thayer's losses have come to 2A Mountain View, 3A Houston and 4A West Plains.

Since postseason began, Advance's average margin of victory has been about 22 points. The Hornets drubbed Bernie 81-61 for the district championships, then rolled past Naylor 73-57 in their regional game at Sikeston Monday night.

Thayer, meanwhile, is coming off a draining win just two days ago.

"We didn't play well, but we won," said Hawkins. "Any time you win one in the state tournament it gives you momentum because you get to play another game."

Thayer is a solid club with uncanny balance. Stephen Ray is averaging about 16 points per game to lead the Bobcats, but 6-6 center Joey Cushing scores about 15 and Jonathan Smith and Jon Mills each get 13.

"You can't just stop one person," Hawkins said. "We've got four guys you have to key on."

But Hawkins expressed a great deal of respect for Advance.

"We've got film on them and they've got a nice club," he said. "(Garrett) Broshuis is awesome. He shoots the ball well. They've got a good point guard (Rainey) who is real quick and another guard (Daniel Turner) who shoots the three well. And their two inside guys are just big and strong and physical."

Just as impressive as the Hornets have been playing is the fans that follow them.

On Monday night, more than 600 fans showed up for Advance wearing orange T-shirts.

"Advance has 144 students in grades 9-12," said Hall. "For such a small student body, we have a tremendous adult following. I would imagine the town was vulnerable to train robbers and bank thieves because everyone in town was at the game. It's a great atmosphere for the team to play in."

Tonight's winner will play either Stoutland (23-5) or Billings (22-6) at West Plains Civic Center on Saturday.

Oran girls vs. Van Buren

Oran will try to keep its Cinderella season alive tonight when it takes on Van Buren at 6:30 p.m. in a Class 1A sectional at Poplar Bluff High School.

Van Buren (17-9) posted an impressive 73-41 victory over a solid Viburnum squad on Monday.

"I know they have a good ballclub," said Oran coach Tom Anderson. "They beat Viburnum by 32 points and Viburnum beat some good ballclubs."

Oran (16-9) advanced to sectionals with a 41-40 win over Neelyville on Monday.

"Our girls have just worked awfully hard this year," Anderson said. "We're going to work extremely hard and do the best we can.

"We've got two big girls (Sara Heisserer and Maria Eftink) who play well and two or three kids who can shoot the ball well and we'll keep with the same things that got us here. We'll work it in there and we'll try to take care of the ball and make sure the shots we take are good shots."

Anderson said a key to their offense is to get the ball into the post.

"A major part of the offense is ball movement," he said. "When players collapse it will sometimes open up a 15- or 16-footer somewhere."

The winner of tonight's game will play the winner of Newburg (21-7) and Billings (18-9) at the West Plains Civic Center on Saturday.