Saxony Lutheran girls basketball team finish fourth in first trip to state

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The outcome of the Saxony Lutheran girls basketball team's first final four showed the young Crusaders that it takes more than just effort, which they don't lack, to win against the top teams in the state.

The Crusaders' season ended with a fourth-place finish in Class 3 after a 68-53 loss to Hermann at Mizzou Arena on Friday, and Saxony coach Sam Sides took a lot away from the defeat.

"We basically win games with grit. We're a gritty team, but we can get a lot better," Sides said. "Our ball-handling skills -- there can be a lot of improvement there. We have a lot of room to get better. Basically what we beat people with is just determination and grit. When other teams have the same thing, it comes down to skill.

"We got out-skilled by both of these teams, I think, a little bit. We've got to work on our game. We've got to have more offensive ability. Our defense, I think, is good enough in most cases to compete with people, but offensively we've got a lot of room for improvement. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but like I told them, just because you had success now as sophomores, you're not guaranteed nothing next year."

Saxony played catch-up for majority of Friday's third-place game against Hermann. The Crusaders last lead came 4 minutes, 54 seconds into the game.

"It's so much easier to have the lead," Saxony sophomore Grace Mirly said. "So it's a struggle to have to come back from behind, but that's something -- since we're a young team -- I guess we haven't experienced it enough to be able to have the strong mental capacity to be able to do that yet."

The Crusaders kept the game close, and tied it at 36-36 with 3:08 left in the third quarter on a pair of free throws by Tess Daniel.

Hermann, which used its size to score in the paint early in the game, sank a 3-pointer on each of its next three possessions to take the lead for good.

Saxony, which had adjusted to the inside play of the Bearcats, readjusted its defense to better guard the perimeter after that, and Hermann was able to attack the basket.

"We don't really play a normal zone. We play a matchup zone we call it," Sides said. "We tried that, again, to try to get more help on the inside and again they hit a few shots there. We had to go back to man-to-man. We were kind of out-matched there in size, too. So like I said, it's kind of like yesterday, you've got to pick your poison."

Saxony came as close as 51-45 with 6:08 remaining in the game, but Hermann guards Karinne Lane and Tesla Ruediger, who finished with 26 and 18 points respectively, combined for the Bearcats' final 17 points, including 13 of 14 free throws, to secure third place.

Sides pointed to the Crusaders' struggle to rebound early in the game, but Saxony outrebounded Hermann 27-25 for the game.

"I tell them the bigger they are the further you've got to go get them," Sides said. "You can't wait for them to come to you because -- under the bucket -- they're going to win that match. You've got to keep them as far away from the bucket as you can, and we've really got to use our speed and energy to go put bodies on people when they're bigger and outweigh you, and it's really going to get to their legs and try to keep them out of their and just jump and go get it.

"Most of the times we've lost we've been outrebounded and given second-chance opportunities. Something's got to go right to where you've either got to play real defense or have a good game offensively where you're knocking down shots, or get rebounds. Something. Make up the difference somewhere."

Saxony was able to score inside early and trailed 26-24 at the half, but Hermann improved its defense after the break.

"We tried to give them a little bit more space just to try to stay in front of them and try to limit some of those points in the paint that I felt like they were getting in the first half," Hermann coach Todd Anderson said. "They still got some, but I thought we did a better job at least of staying in front of them and maybe at least making them shoot over a contested shot in the second half. They still hit some, but overall I thought we did a better job defensively, which allowed us to get a few stops and hit a few shots in the third quarter to get us going on offense."

Even when the Crusaders did get scoring opportunities in the final 16 minutes, they didn't always make -- or even take the shots.

"It's always a little bit of defense, but it was also the confidence in them, confidence in their game that they can finish shots," Sides said. "We pass up shots sometimes that we should take and other times we don't read a situation right. Sometimes we'll pass and we should drive, or we drive and we should pass, and that comes from experience. It's just stuff we've got to keep working on."

The Crusaders, who finished the season 24-6, will only graduate one senior -- Maci Daniel -- and have learned what it will take to be successful.

"For us, we've got to do things perfect because a lot of times we can't make up for it because really we're not as skilled," Sides said. "Even though our record's pretty good, we've still got a room for improvement."

Saxony Lutheran 13 11 14 15 -- 53

Hermann 16 10 21 21 -- 68

SAXONY LUTHERAN (53) -- Grace Mirly 4, Ali Galemmo 4, Brianna Mueller 12, Raegan Wieser 16, Maddie Brune 9, Maci Daniel 2, Tess Daniel 2, Ashlyn Collier 4. FG 20, FT 11-12, F 22. (3-pointers: Wieser 2. Fouled out: Mueller, M. Daniel)

HERMANN (68) -- Tesla Ruediger 18, Kali Stiers 6, Kristen Leimkuehler 10, Karinne Lane 26, Jamie Gleeson 6, Haley Stiers 2. FG 21, FT 8-20, F 14. (3-pointers: Ruediger 1, K. Stiers 2, Leimkuehler 2, Lane 26. Fouled out: none)