Meadow Heights girls basketball team pounces on district title

ORAN, Mo. -- Meadow Heights senior Gina Cureton said the team consistently hacked its post players in practice this week.

The Panthers wanted to toughen up their inside presence.

"Our post players haven't been being as strong as we want them to," Cureton said. "The two days we got to practice, we fouled them like crazy to make them finish. They showed it tonight. They completely showed it."

Cureton left no doubt she was pleased with the post players after Thursday's dominating victory over Lesterville in the Class 2 District 3 title game.

Whitney Welker and Erin Bollmann combined for 50 points in the Panthers' 84-50 win at Oran High School.

Meadow Heights' Erin Bollmann shoots against Lesterville's Taylor Cook during the second quarter of the Class 2 District 3 title game Thursday in Oran, Mo. Meadow Heights won 84-50. (Kristin Eberts)

"We knew coming in we wanted to feed the post," Meadow Heights coach Mitch Nanney said. "We'd played Lesterville before. We was able to dominate in the post a lot, get a lot of stuff down there. We knew if we got the ball down there, we'd be OK."

Bollmann said assistant coach Mark Verticchio challenged her and Welker before Thursday's championship game.

"Coach Verticchio sat me and Whitney aside and told us we have to shoot and we need to make our shots," Bollmann said. "All we had to do is drive. He said it before the game that we're going to dominate and we had to dominate."

The two juniors took their assistant coach's words to heart. The pair combined to go 12 of 14 from the field in the first half. They scored 27 of their team's 43 points before halftime.

"We just focused on being strong, going to the basket and finishing," Welker said. "Just taking what was given to us and dominating."

Meadow Heights' Gina Cureton takes a shot against Lesterville's Taylor Cook during the first quarter of the Class 2 District 3 title game Thursday in Oran. Meadow Heights won 84-50.

Bollmann scored nine of her 22 points in the third quarter. She finished shooting 10 of 16 (63 percent) in the game. She added a game-high 14 rebounds.

"She was going out and being dominant because she can," Nanney said about Bollmann. "Both of them have a lot of skills. Their skills sets are different, what they're good at. But Erin is such a phenomenal athlete. She can get to the rim. She can knock down that open 15-foot jump shot. She's worked hard on her free throws to knock that down. She handles the ball well for a bigger kid. She's just doing the things we've known she could do for a while now."

Welker recorded a game-high 28 points on 12 of 14 (86 percent) shooting. She chipped in 12 rebounds.

"We tried to get good positioning and call for the ball," Welker said. "Our teammates get us the ball really well and just finishing and being strong and being smart."

Thursday's victory marked the third consecutive district title for Meadow Heights, a program that's only in its sixth year. But the Panthers have enjoyed considerable success early, so district titles aren't enough to satisfy the players.

"We don't take anything for granted still," Welker said. "We're very excited to have the district win. We're happy with it, but we're not satisfied. We want to go that extra step."

Lesterville stuck with the Panthers (24-3) in the early going by hitting from long range. The Bearcats went 5 of 12 (42 percent) from beyond the arc in the first quarter and only trailed by three points after the opening eight minutes.

"We didn't realize that they could make that many 3-pointers, but they kept making them," Bollmann said. "[Nanney] told the guards to get right up on them in the second quarter, and they did, and that's when we started getting ahead."

The Panthers couldn't miss in the second quarter. They went 9 of 10 from the field, and the lone miss was a 3-point attempt by Cureton that went halfway down before popping out.

"We felt that the first quarter wasn't as well as we could have played," Bollmann said. "But the second quarter we came out and we finished, so that's what we were happy with."

The Panthers will face the winner of tonight's game between St. Vincent and New Haven. The sectional game is scheduled to tip at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday in Park Hills.

Meadow Heights should have back starter Heather Dietiker, who missed Thursday's game. Nanney said Dietiker and Jillian Mills clanged heads during practice Tuesday, and both players emerged with concussions.

"Heather is kind of day-to-day," he said. "It wasn't worth risking it for us putting her out there."

Lesterville 19 12 9 10 -- 50

Meadow Hts 22 21 24 17 -- 84

LESTERVILLE (50) -- Taylor Cook 19, Ashlyn Woods 11, Alida Tobiassen 3, RayVen Nichols 15, Rochelle Thomas 2. FG 18, FT 7-15, F 8. (3-pointers: Cook 2, Woods 1, Tobiassen 1, Nichols 3. Fouled out: none)

MEADOW HEIGHTS (84) -- Mica Morse 10, Hattie Cook 7, Gina Cureton 17, Erin Bollmann 22, Whitney Welker 28. FG 34, FT 11-14, F 12. (3-pointers: Morse 2, Cook 2, Cureton 1. Fouled out: none)