Saxony Lutheran girls basketball rides strong third quarter over Notre Dame, into tournament final

When the Saxony Luthern and Notre Dame girls basketball teams met Monday night, it was a far cry from the 59-24 trouncing the former offered earlier in the season. But the Crusaders still had Brianna Mueller.

The Bulldogs came to play, but Saxony broke open a five-point game at halftime as Mueller scored 21 points to lead the top-seeded Crusaders to a 44-36 victory in a Kelso Supply Holiday Classic semifinal at the Show Me Center.

Mueller scored 12 of her points in the third quarter, after having just five midway through the game.

Saxony Lutheran's Ali Galemmo drives in under Notre Dame's Lexi Welter, left, and Maddie Urhahn during the second quarter in a semifinal of the Kelso Supply Holiday Classic on Monday, Dec. 21, 2015 at the Show Me Center. (Fred Lynch)

"In the third quarter our inexperience showed," Notre Dame coach Renee Peters said. "Brianna Mueller took the ball and she had a heck of a quarter. She's going to be an All-State player.

"I know we lost, but I feel better about our loss tonight than I did about the win yesterday [over Cape Central in the quarterfinal]. We played hard for a full game.

"I'm very proud of them. Saxony is an outstanding team."

Saxony Lutheran (6-1) also got 10 points from Grace Mirly on a night when the Crusaders shot just 14 of 39 (36 percent) from the field.

"We had to make some personnel changes, and the girls that came off the bench settled us down a little bit," Saxony coach Sam Sides said. "That was big, I thought. We got some opportunities to score. They did a good job of covering 'B' [Brianna Mueller] early in the game, and in the third quarter she got some opportunities to score -- we set some picks for her and she worked hard to get open on her own.

"The defense kept us in it when the offense wasn't working, most of the time we did OK on the boards and we just kind of hung in there."

Sam Brennan paced fourth-seeded Notre Dame (3-4) with 13 points, but she scored 11 of those in the first half. She went 15 minutes without a point, during which the Crusaders swung in front.

"Sam likes to put a lot of pressure on herself, and then she got tired," Peters said. "Sam played some defense tonight, which is something we've really been drilling with her -- she's got to play both sides. She played her heart out on defense and she fatigued a little.

"She's played with all these girls, so they know what she's capable of and they honed in on her a little."

Saxony pulled away after halftime, outscoring Notre Dame 14-6 in the third quarter, with Mueller finding her rhythm. The senior hit a 3-pointer right out of the gates to push the lead to 27-21, and even after Hayli Chapman answered from long range for the Bulldogs, the Crusaders never flinched.

Mueller scored the next three baskets for the top seed, before Ali Galemmo chipped in with a jump shot from the top of the key -- set up by Mueller, who rebounded her own missed 3 and in one motion lofted an overhead, no-look pass to Galemmo, who didn't have to move to get her shot off.

Saxony Lutheran's Grace Mirly takes a shot over Notre Dame's Maddie Urhahn, left, and Sydney Newell during the second quarter in a semifinal of the Kelso Supply Holiday Classic on Monday, Dec. 21, 2015 at the Show Me Center. (Fred Lynch)

A minute later, Mueller drained a 3 to punctuate the period and give Saxony Lutheran a 38-27 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Mueller opened the final eight minutes with another shot from outside the arc, giving her team its biggest lead of the night at 13 points.

Notre Dame went on an 8-2 run to cut the gap back to single digits, 42-36, with just over a minute to play, but the Crusaders controlled the ball and Mirly hit a pair of free throws as the top seed earned a championship berth.

The start wasn't pretty for either side, as turnovers plagued both teams and the game remained scoreless nearly three minutes in, until Notre Dame's Faith Essner got to the basket for an old-fashioned three-point play at 5:04 of the first.

Brennan converted off a steal three minutes later to put the Bulldogs up 9-4, but Saxony Lutheran got free throws from Tess Daniel and a layup by Maddie Brune in the waning seconds to cut Notre Dame's edge to 9-8 after eight minutes played.

Saxony Lutheran carried that momentum into the second quarter, taking better care of the ball and getting more aggressive. That approach paid off with baskets near the rim and trips to the charity stripe, where the Crusaders shot 6 of 8 in the quarter.

Daniel got to the rim for a layup and foul at 6:51 of the second, converting for Saxony's first lead of the game, 11-9.

"We always want to try to attack the bucket," Sides said. "We played them earlier [in the season] and it was kind of a blowout early on, and I guess they thought it was going to be an easy game again. But you've got to play every time. Notre Dame, they came ready to play and they outplayed us. *... We were the passive team and they were the aggressive team."

Lexi Welter put Notre Dame back up thanks to consecutive buckets, but as the march to the free-throw line began, the Crusaders scraped ahead. Mueller got three points the hard way for an 18-15 lead at the 3:31 mark.

A 3-pointer by Hayli Chapman kept the Bulldogs close, 22-21, as halftime neared, but Mirly sank a jump shot with 29 seconds remaining and Saxony Lutheran took a 24-21 edge into the break.

The Crusaders will take on second-seeded Jackson in the tournament final today at 8:30 p.m.

Notre Dame 9 12 6 9 -- 36

Saxony Luth. 8 16 14 6 -- 44

NOTRE DAME (36) -- Sam Brennan 13, Faith Essner 3, Maddie Urhahn 4, Hayli Chapman 9, Lexi Welter 6, Sydney Newell 1. FG 13-36, FT 6-7, F 16. (3-pointers: Chapman 3, Brennan. Fouled out: None.)

SAXONY LUTHERAN (44) -- Grace Mirly 10, Ali Galemmo 2, Brianna Mueller 21, Tess Daniel 5, Courtney Kester 4, Maddie Brune 2. FG 14-39, FT 14-20, F 12. (3-pointers: Mueller 2. Fouled out: None.)