Saxony Lutheran girls basketball team cruises past Twin Rivers in sectional round

~ Saxony Lutheran avenged last year's sectional loss with a 65-36 victory

DEXTER, Mo. -- Saxony Lutheran girls basketball coach Sam Sides thinks pressure defense is a big part of the perfect formula for success for his youthful squad in the state playoffs.

"I want us to play hard all the time," Sides said. "For us to be successful we've got to play 94 feet and with a lot of intensity. We are not very big, but we are free, aggressive and active. Our goal is to try to challenge every pass."

The defensive strategy worked early and often in a Class 3 state sectional against Twin Rivers on Wednesday night at the Bearcat Event Center.

Saxony Lutheran extended its pressure defense beyond half court for much of the first half as it limited Twin Rivers to two field goals in the first quarter and four field goals in the second period.

Saxony Lutheran built a 41-13 lead by halftime and led by at least that margin throughout the second half as it secured a wire-to-wire 65-36 win against Twin Rivers.

"I thought if we put a lot of heat on them it would be to our advantage," Sides said. "The second half, I thought we kind of coasted and let up a little bit when we backed off to half court, but I thought we did a great job defensively the first half.

Nine players recorded a field goal for Saxony Lutheran, which improved to 23-4.

Sophomore guards Grace Mirly and Brianna Mueller led the way for the Crusaders with 15 points apiece.

"We don't have to rely on one player," Sides said. "On any given night we've got a couple girls who can step up and score in double figures. That's good to have. If you are going to try to take somebody away, we usually have somebody who can step up and score."

Twin Rivers senior center Hannah Sadler tallied all of her team-high 12 points after halftime before fouling out.

Most of Saxony's squad is getting its second straight taste of the state playoffs. The Crusaders' roster is composed of eight sophomores and senior Maci Daniel. Twin Rivers beat Saxony Lutheran 66-51 in a Class 3 state sectional last season before suffering a season-ending 72-56 loss to eventual state champion Lutheran of St. Peters in a Class 3 state quarterfinal.

"We've matured a lot since last season," Sides said. "I think last year the state-playoff atmosphere affected us a little bit, and I was afraid it might happen again, but we were ready to play and jumped out to a good lead tonight."

The second-seeded Royals (15-12) upset top-seeded Doniphan 73-65 in the Class 3, District 1, championship last week.

"I think we got overwhelmed at the beginning, tonight," Twin Rivers coach Kelly Westerfield said. "I had four seniors and a junior who played every minute of last year's game. They had experience with tough games, and these girls just haven't been in that scenario yet.

"I'm really proud of what they did last week in our district championship and fortunately most of them get to come back and if they get back in this situation again sometime soon they will be experienced next time."

Saxony will play Lutheran (St. Peters) High School in the quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Saturday at Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Mo. Lutheran improved to 22-7 with a 72-44 win over Carnahan (12-9).

"It is the farthest our boys or girls basketball program has ever been at Saxony so we are looking forward to Saturday," Sides said. "St. Peters graduated a couple of players off of last season's state championship squad, but they are still pretty solid They are a highly ranked team in St. Louis so it will be a tough challenge and hopefully we will be ready to play."

Twin Rivers 4 9 11 12 -- 36

Saxony 19 22 14 10 -- 65

TWIN RIVERS (36) -- Delanie Buie 3, Jaysea Morgan 2, Hannah Baxter 4, Hannah Sadler 12, Kira Cunningham 8, Casey Douglas 7. FG 15, FT 3-7, F 14. (3-pointers: Cunningham 2, Buie 1. Fouled out: Sadler)

SAXONY LUTHERAN (65) -- Grace Mirly 15, Jordan Hecht 4, Maci Daniel 7, Ali Galemmo 4, Brianna Mueller 15, Tess Daniel 4, Ashlynn Collier 2, Raegan Wieser 9, Maddie Brune 5. FG 26, FT 11-16, F 10. (3-pointers: Mirly 1, Mueller 1. Fouled out: none)