Saxony Lutheran girls basketball glides past Charleston, into district championship

Thus far, things have proven that the true test of Saxony Lutheran girls basketball is still ahead. On Thursday night it won its 20th consecutive basketball game and breezed into the Class 3 District 2 championship with a 71-34 win over Charleston.

The top-seeded Crusaders (24-2) will take on No. 2 Arcadia Valley in the final Thursday. Whether a recent string of blowouts helps or hurts Saxony Lutheran is yet to be seen.

"The last three or four games have pretty much been blowouts. I don't know if that helps you or hurts you," Saxony Lutheran coach Sam Sides said. "Everybody gets in the game, but you lose your edge a little bit -- you lose your intensity -- and we're going to have to get that back, for sure."

Raegan Wieser led the victors with 18 points while Brianna Mueller pitched in 16, 12 of which came in the third quarter. Grace Mirly added 10 points for the Crusaders.

The Bluejays (14-10) turned the ball over 23 times, including 15 times in the first half. They were led by Cheyenne Randle and Conner Watkin, who finished with 10 points apiece.

Charleston was 13 of 38 (34.2 percent) from the floor.

Saxony Lutheran was 27 of 51 (52.9 percent), including 22 of 36 (61.1 percent) from 2-point range.

The Crusaders took advantage of Charleston turnovers early on, jumping out to an 8-1 lead midway through the first quarter before the Bluejays pulled back within three, 8-5, when Cheyenne Randle layed in the ball at the 3:18 mark. The game remained that close for only a minute, and never got any closer.

"I'd watched them a couple of times and I thought if we could put some pressure on them and force them to turn it over, we could take advantage of it," Sides said. "We did that most of the time."

Charleston was held scoreless the rest of the period, and Brianna Mueller took a steal coast to coast with 22 seconds left on the clock to put the top seed up 16-5 after one period of play.

The Crusaders pulled away as Wieser scored the first three baskets of the second quarter, pushing the advantage to 22-6 with 5:30 left in the half.

It became clear this was just Saxony Lutheran's night when Wieser completed a conventional three-point play -- with an over-the-shoulder prayer that fell -- to give her team a 33-9 lead at the two-minute mark.

Mirly knocked down a 3-pointer just before the buzzer and the Crusaders nearly tripled up the Jays going into halftime, 38-14.

Charleston came out of the break and scored back-to-back buckets, with Sharell Woods taking a steal coast to coast to cut the deficit to 20, but Wieser responded with a pair of 3s to cut down any Bluejay hope for momentum.

Charleston's attempt to press hard and high defensively disrupted Saxony's rhythm a bit, but ultimately played into its hands.

"They tried to pick the pace up, which probably worked in our favor," Sides said. "We probably have more ball handlers than they have, and we took advantage of that. They had to speed us up, turn us over and get some extra shots -- they had nothing to lose at that point. Â… But it really probably helped us to play faster, so it worked well."

Mueller, who had just four points to that point, went to work in transition and scored seven straight points for the Crusaders late in the quarter.

Saxony took a 61-28 lead into the final quarter, and it was just a matter of playing to the final whistle to seal a berth in the district final.

Arcadia Valley (18-9) defeated Woodland 70-50 in the other semifinal.

The championship will be played at 6 p.m. Thursday at Scott City High School.

Charleston 5 9 14 6 -- 34

Saxony Luth. 16 22 23 10 -- 71

CHARLESTON (34) -- Sharell Woods 2, Cheyenne Randle 10, Conner Watkin 10, Jermanjea Smith 2, Chanell Quinn 3, Fredrica Evans 4, Clintayzia Clark 3. FG 13-38, FT 5-13, F 15. (3-pointers: Quinn, Evans, Clark. Fouled out: None.)

SAXONY LUTHERAN (71) -- Grace Mirly 10, Ali Galemmo 8, Brianna Mueller 16, Raegan Wieser 18, Maddie Brune 4, Ashlynn Collier 5, Tess Daniel 2, Laurel Mueller 4, Heather Wills 2, Courtney Kester 2. FG 27-51, FT 12-15, F 10. (3-pointers: Mirly 2, Wieser 2, Mueller. Fouled out: None.)