Oran girls basketball team knocks off Chaffee in Lady Devil Invitational championship game

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- One team succumbed to the pressure -- both from the stage and the defense -- and one didn't. Maybe playing against type, it was an Oran girls basketball team leaning on youngsters that took out host Chaffee on Saturday afternoon to hoist the 39th Lady Devil Invitational title with a 61-43 victory at Chaffee High School.

The Eagles (5-0) got a 31-point performance from freshman guard Leah Cauble, who scored 22 points in the first half to help her squad open up a cushion that allowed it to survive a third-quarter dry spell and hold off the Red Devils (4-1) convincingly.

"She's just an excellent player," Oran coach Ethan Evans said. "For her to be able to come out in a championship game in a pressure-packed situation early, and be able to perform the way she did is just unbelievable.

"Just to be able to come in here and beat a good Chaffee team on their home floor -- to be able to come in here with our youth and get good early-season experience for our young girls -- it's going to pay dividends in the long run."

Fellow Oran freshman Jessie Long added 12 points and 15 rebounds, while junior Brianna Stause added 10 points.

The Eagles had played for a Lady Devils Invitational championship just once before -- in 2013, when they lost to Woodland. Chaffee won the tournament in 2014 and 2012.

"We're just proud that we finally won in this tournament," Stause said. "We haven't in forever -- actually, we never have. We just want to keep pushing until we get to state, hopefully."

Kylie Wilhite led Chaffee with 16 points, while Julia Sutterfield added 14.

The Red Devils had more turnovers than field goals made, going 15 of 43 from the floor.

"Points per possession we were like .65, and normally we're at about .9," Chaffee coach Darrin Pruitt said. "When you don't have the ball in your hands as much, you don't have opportunities to shoot. I don't know if I'd go as far as to say it was Oran's press that was giving us trouble, we were just killing ourselves. We were shooting our own foot. There were open people and we were rushing some things or turning around and walking. We know better. In the beginning of the game, some of that was nerves."

Those early stumbles gave Oran the window of opportunity it needed. Cauble scored all but two of the Eagles' first-quarter points, scoring back-to-back buckets late in the period -- one off a block and one off a steal -- to put her team up 15-9. Wilhite drained a pair of free throws with 23 seconds left in the quarter to make the score 15-11 going into the second.

That second period turned out no better for Chaffee, as Oran out-scored the Red Devils 21-13 in the eight minutes. After Sutterfield got to the hoop for a basket 30 seconds in, the Eagles went on a 12-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Stause that pushed their edge to 27-15. Oran maintained that 12-point advantage at the break, 36-24.

"They put their bigger girls on top, so they can't move back as fast as we can," Stause said. "We were hoping they'd press us, but they didn't -- they went 2-3 [zone] -- so we couldn't get past [their trap], but once we pressed them we were able to get some easy points."

The third quarter provided a bit of hope for Chaffee. Wilhite hit a jump shot just 11 seconds into the second half, opening up a 7-2 swing that allowed the Red Devils to scrap back within seven points, 38-31, with 3:55 left in the third.

Cauble and Long scored in response for Oran before Sutterfield layed the ball in for the hosts, but out-scoring the Eagles 11-8 in the quarter was only good enough to cut the gap to 44-35, and the visitors broke out again in the final period of play, 17-8, to secure some early-season hardware.

It was a disappointing ending for the Red Devils, but while they failed to defend their tournament title, they also know they'll have a shot at revenge.

"Our thing is, this prepares us to go on," Pruitt said. "We want the district title again. ... We're going to see Oran two more times. We'll see them again in the conference during the regular season, so we'll have another shot at them."

The All-Tournament First Team included two players from each of the two finalists, with Sutterfield and Wilhite for the hosts and Cauble and Stause for the Eagles. Woodland's Krista Rhodes was also honored.

The Second Team featured Oran's Long, Puxico's Sophia Hancock and Katelyn Pierre, Woodland's Cheyenne Wells and Kelly's Tori Duenne.

Oran 15 21 8 17 -- 61

Chaffee 11 13 11 8 -- 43

ORAN (61) -- Brianna Stause 10, Tatum May 4, Ashlyn McIntosh 4, Leah Cauble 31, Jessie Long 12. FG 22-61, FT 14-18 F 15. (3-pointers: Stause 2, Cauble. Fouled out: none.)

CHAFFEE (43) -- Julia Sutterfield 14, Kyle Wilhite 16, Carliegh Burnett 2, Lyndsey Harrell 2, Katy Glueck 3, Mary Beth Knutson 4, Madeline Hendrix 2. FG 15-43, FT 11-20, F 16. (3-pointers: Sutterfield, Wilhite. Fouled out: Sutterfield.)