Oran girls basketball team falls to Naylor in sectional play

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- The Oran girls basketball team wasn't able to handle the pressure applied by Naylor in Tuesday's Class 1 sectional at Bloomfield High School.

Oran committed 11 of its 35 turnovers in the second quarter, during which Naylor outscored Oran 18-10 before cruising to a 59-31 win.

"Their pressure's outstanding," Oran coach Ethan Evans said about Naylor, whose lengthy starting lineup poses a number of problems. "When you're as long as they are, you've just got to try to attack it, and when you do, somebody else is 5-foot-10, 5-11 standing there waiting on you, too."

Allie Cummins scored on a putback to cap a 7-1 run for Oran (14-11) in the first 2 minutes, 30 seconds of the opening period.

Following a timeout by Naylor coach Gene Deckard, Naylor (21-6) rattled off seven straight points to take its first lead of the game.

Hannah Scherer responded with a bucket to put Oran back ahead 9-8, but Lauren Rich drove to the basket to give Naylor the lead for good with 2:10 remaining in the first quarter.

"The first three minutes, they just kicked our butt," Deckard said. "We finally decided we had to get down and play, and basically from the first quarter on, we did pretty good. We missed a few easy chip shots, but we basically did what we wanted to do. And we got control of the game."

Scherer knocked down a jumper to cut Oran's deficit to 20-17 with 4:15 to go in the first half, but a number of turnovers allowed Naylor to close the half on a 10-4 run. Naylor led 30-21 at the break.

Evans said his team held strong rebounding against a bigger Naylor squad.

Oran's Hannah Scherer pushes past Naylor's Shayna Tharp on a drive to the basket in the second quarter of a Class 1 sectional Tuesday, March 3, 2015 in Bloomfield, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

"You can be in position and still not get a rebound unless your going to push them out and create contact from them," Evans said. "Overall, I thought we did a decent job of that. It was just turnovers. Turnovers killed us."

On Oran's first possession of the third quarter, Cummins hit a 3-pointer that trimmed her team's lead to six points. Naylor used the rest of the period to go on a 13-4 run and held a comfortable 43-28 advantage heading into the final period.

Shayna Tharp scored seven of her game-high 17 points for Naylor in the third quarter.

"We cut it to six, and then it was eight again. Then we missed on an easy opportunity, and that's when things kind of started to freefall from there," Evans said. "Their constant pressure just kind of wears on you, and they were able to distance themselves from us. And I knew once you get behind this team, they're so good and so well-coached and take care of the basketball extremely well. It's hard to get back in the game against them."

Naylor's Kabrien Rogers contributed five of her 11 points in the fourth quarter, during which Naylor outscored Oran 16-3.

"Everybody talks about how big we are, but they overlook some of our quickness," Deckard said. "... Oran came out with a good game plan. They were well-coached. Finally, we just had to chip away, chip away until we got the lead to where we wanted it."

Oran was 13 of 38 (34 percent) from the floor and was led by Scherer, who finished with nine points.

"From an effort standpoint, I can't be disappointed," Evans said. "We had a lot of mental mistakes. As a coach, you always hate mental mistakes."

Callee Pickrell finished with 11 points for Naylor, which shot 25 of 47 (53 percent) from the field. Naylor will take on Chadwick (19-7) in a Class 1 quarterfinal on Saturday.

Oran finished with a second consecutive district title, but Evans said he wants his team to take the next step.

"We've got a good core coming back for next year, and we've got a good group of young players coming in that should come in and make an immediate impact for us," Evans said. "We talked about just taking that next step. You get to that quarterfinal, and then you try to take it to that final four. You've just got to take it step by step."

Oran 11 10 7 3 -- 31

Naylor 12 18 13 16 -- 59

ORAN (31) -- Hannah Scherer 9, Kaylen Glastetter 7, Allie Cummins 6, Brianna Stause 5, Tatum May 2, Ashlyn McIntosh 2. FG 13-38, FT 2-3, F 15. (3-pointers: Cummins 1, Stause 1, Glastetter 1. Fouled out: none.)

NAYLOR (59) -- Shayna Tharp 17, Kabrien Rogers 11, Callee Pickrell 11, Lauren Rich 9, Madison Gargac 7, Brooklyn Urich 4. FG 25-47, FT 7-13, F 10. (3-pointers: Tharp 1, Rich 1. Fouled out: none.)