Kelly avenges loss against Woodland to claim Lady Devils Invitational championship

CHAFFEE, Mo. — For the first time since 2008, Kelly is the Lady Devils Invitational Champions.

The Lady Hawks (3-1) avenged its lone blemish of the young season, winning a rematch against Woodland 47-38 on Thursday at Chaffee High School. 

Kelly coach Matthew Blissett praised his team’s improvement from last week’s loss to the Cardinals (4-2) to this week’s win. 

Kelly�s Kristin Grogan fires a 3-pointer during the Lady Devil Invitational�s championship game on Thursday at Chaffee High School. (J.C. Reeves/Special to the Standard-Democrat)

“[Beating Woodland] shows that we’ve improved in a week,” Blissett said. “We’re starting to find some shots, but we’ve still got a ways to go. I think the biggest thing at the beginning of the season is finding ways to improve and I can see now that our practices are helping and we have shown improvement.”

After trailing by one point through the first quarter, the Lady Hawks outscored the Cardinals 14-3 in the second to take a 10-point into halftime while holding Woodland’s leading scorer Mallary Barks to just two first-half points.

“Defensively we’re starting to come into ourselves,” Blissett said. “We’ve got three defenses that I like to run and I want to be real strong at them and try to keep the offense on their toes. I think the girls are starting to really buy in and are doing a good job of playing all three of them.”

Woodland's Mallary Barks (13) and Kelly's Kayleigh Holman (23) battle for a rebound during the championship of the Lady Red Devil Invitational on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (J.C. Reeves/Special to the Standard-Democrat)

Woodland rallied some in the third quarter, narrowing Kelly’s lead to seven by the end of the period. But the Lady Hawks’ proficiency at the free-throw line in the final period proved to be the difference as Kelly went 13-for-18 at the charity stripe to close out the game. 

“I always tell the girls, ‘Free throws don’t win games, but they win the close games,” Blissett said. “We put a big focus on knocking those down. We’re trying to shoot at least 70 percent as a goal, and I don’t know if we accomplished that goal tonight but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.”

Kelly was led by their senior duo of Jada Griggs and Kristin Grogan who combined for 28 points. Griggs scored a team-high 15 points while Grogan hit a pair of 3-pointers and made five of her six free-throw attempts for 13 points. 

Kelly's Avree Riley (1) goes for a layup during the championship of the Lady Red Devil Invitational on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (J.C. Reeves/Special to the Standard-Democrat)

“They bring intensity on the defensive and offensive end, and they bring the energy and they bring the leadership that we need every day,” Blissett said. “Kristen and Jada have both stepped up. They know that this is their last year in the sport and they’ve really bought into the system. Once they buy in everybody else follows and I think just having them on the team is a big help.”

Fellow senior Ava LeGrand added nine points for the Hawks, scoring all of her points from the free-throw line including going 7-for-10 in the fourth quarter to help Kelly pull away.

After being held to just two points in the first half, Barks scored 14 second-half points for the Cardinals for a game-high 16 while freshman Addy Massa contributed 14 points of her own. 

“Addy Massa is a freshman and she has brought a lot of heart and a lot of effort to our program this year,” said Woodland coach Paul Lynch. “She’s getting better every game. She’s got a lot of improvement still to go, but she’s just a competitor. Mallory is a junior and she’s been in this situation. She was huge for us last year and has been since her freshman year.”

Kelly will have the weekend off before traveling to East Prairie on Monday for a 7:30 p.m. matchup with the Lady Eagles (2-2). 

Woodland will face Scott City (6-1) for the second time in less than a week, as the Cardinals host the Lady Rams at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

“We talk a lot about learning from our experiences,” Lynch said. “We’ve got to evaluate tape, we’ve got to look at what we did well and what we didn’t do well — which was quite a bit tonight — and we’ve got to improve on that for the next game. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. We don’t want to be as good as we’re going to be right now. We want to build up until we’re ready to go at districts. That’s our plan. Our girls buy into that and will rebound and be ready to go Monday night.”

__KELLY 47, WOODLAND 38__

Woodland 8 3 11 16 — 38

Kelly 7 14 8 18 — 47

Woodland (38) — Mallory Barks 16, Addy Massa 14, Maci McIntyre 5, Rhodie Long 2, Tallie Johnson 1. FG: 15, FT 5-14, F: 15. (3-pointers: McIntyre 1. Fouled out: none).

Kelly (47) — Jada Griggs 15, Kristin Grogan 13, Ava LeGrand 9, Avree Riley 3, Macy Burger 3, Gwen Essner 2, Kayleigh Holman 2. FG: 13, FT: 17-28, F: 13. (3-pointers: Grogan 2, Riley 1, Burger 1. Fouled out: none).

__LADY RAMS TAKE 3RD__

After losing their first game of the season Tuesday night, Scott City bounced back on Thursday to beat Meadow Heights by 19 points and claim third place in the Lady Devils Invitational. 

Junior post Lilyan Landis led the Lady Rams in scoring with 19 points, followed by senior Gracie Karrenbrock who added 16. 

Senior Rachel Hellebusch was the lone Lady Panther (3-3) to score in double-figures, with a game-high 21 points.

The Lady Rams look to avenge their only loss of the young season with a 7:30 p.m. on Monday at Woodland.

The Lady Panthers will have a week to prepare for the First State Community Bank Holiday Classic which begins on Dec. 18 at the Show Me Center. 

__SCOTT CITY 50,

MEADOW HEIGHTS 31__

Meadow Heights 12 11 4 4 — 31

Scott City 5 18 10 17 — 50

Meadow Heights (31) — Rachel Hellebusch 21, Cheyenne Tonjum 4, Jaycee Shelton 2, Kinley Burr 2, Madison Bess 2. FG: 14, FT: 3-6, F: 17. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none).

Scott City (50) — Lilyan Landis 19, Gracie Karrenbrock 16, Lily Elders 7, Hayden Collier 4, Logan Schiwitz 3, Reese Carter 1, Summer Wagner 1. FG: 17, FT: 13-21, F: 6. (3-pointers: Karrenbrock 2, Elders 1. Fouled out: none).

__LADY RED DEVILS WIN CONSOLATION BRACKET__

Host Chaffee routed Advance on Thursday to take fifth place in the Lady Devils Invitational. 

The Lady Red Devils (3-2) defeated the Lady Hornets (1-6) much more comfortably than in their previous matchup, a 49-43 overtime victory on the road. Chaffees’s defense stepped up in the consolation finals, holding Advance to single-digit scoring in each quarter. 

The Red Devils were led offensively by sophomore Malinah Robinson who scored 15 points and went 8-for-11 at the free-throw line.

She was joined in double figures by freshman Kiersten Arnold’s 12 points and junior Zoe Bentley’s 10 points. Bentley was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in a winning effort.

Senior Maggie Stubenrauch led Advance in scoring with eight points including a pair of 3-pointers, while junior Harley Daniels and senior Kaylee Kline added six apiece. 

Chaffee will host the SEMO Conference champions Notre Dame (3-0) at 7:30 p.m. Monday. 

Advance is set to travel to Oak Ridge for a 7:30 p.m. matchup with the Blue Jays (5-1) on Monday.

__CHAFFEE 54, ADVANCE 27__

Advance 8 7 8 4 — 27

Chaffee 12 16 16 10 — 54

Advance (27) — Maggie Stubenrauch 8, Harley Daniels 6, Kaylee Cline 6, Rylee Roper 3, Zoey Lee 2, Natalee Roper 2. FG: 11, FT: 3-7, F: 19. (3-pointers: Stubenrauch 2. Fouled out: none).

Chaffee (54) — Malinah Robertson 15, Kiersten Arnold 12, Zoe Bentley 10, Carlyanne Cossou 8, Jocelyn Hanlon 4, Jordynn Brown 2, Kaylynn Tuttleton 2. FG: 18, FT: 17-25, F: 15. (3-pointers: Robertson 1. Fouled out: none).