SCAA: Woodland regroups following dramatic defeat to claim 3rd place

BLOOMFIELD – It is typically a coach’s job to teach his/her players lessons. However, in the case of the Woodland High School varsity boy’s basketball squad, the young Cardinals helped third-year Cardinal coach Shawn Kinder through some trying moments recently.

Following Woodland’s dramatic 65-63 loss to eventual Stoddard County Athletic Association Tournament champion Richland (Essex) in the semifinal on Thursday, Kinder was distraught. However, his team – and Kinder – regrouped mentally, emotionally, and physically, and eventually wore down host Bloomfield in the third-place game on Friday, prevailing 76-55.

“I was having trouble getting out of that funk,” Kinder said.

A half-hour following the semifinal loss, which didn’t end until after 9 p.m., Kinder was still sitting on a bench in the locker room in the bowels of the historic Bloomfield High School gymnasium with his head in his hands.

“Woodland has never won a Stoddard County varsity tournament,” Kinder said. “We had set goals for the year, and this was one of our goals.”

Kinder “avoided (my players) all day” at school on Friday, he admitted. But his team performed well against the Wildcats, who faltered in the second half.

“We talked about trying to bring our energy,” Kinder said of Friday’s game, “and making sure that we were controlling the tempo.”

The Cardinals (12-5) were in a battle through 16 minutes, as they led (barely) 35-33 at halftime. However, Woodland got to the free-throw line eight times in the third quarter, as it wore the Bloomfield defenders down.

“It felt like this was the first game all year where we played with zero effort,” first-year Bloomfield coach Ben Sindle said afterward. “Clearly, that can’t happen.”

To Kinder’s point about controlling the tempo, Sindle agreed and said his team got out of its strategy.

“We can’t get in a scoring match with teams like (Woodland),” Sindle said. “We’ve got to slow down and play our style of basketball.”

Woodland outscored Bloomfield 23-15 in the third quarter, before blasting the Wildcats 18-7 over the final eight minutes.

“It starts at the defensive end,” Sindle said, “when you can get stops. We just didn’t get a lot of stops and we weren’t really active.

“We didn’t talk as much (on the defensive end) and we didn’t have the energy.”

The Cardinals were active defensively, as they limited Bloomfield (7-10) to just one made 3-pointer in the game.

Woodland got eight second-half points from senior Elias Nenninger, who finished with 10 points total, while sophomore guard Korbin Kinder led his team with 15 points.

Cardinal junior Lane Lee chipped in 13 points, as he drained three 3-pointers, while senior Brayden Hastings (11 points), sophomore Calvin Layton (nine points), and junior center Trae Cook (nine points) also contributed.

Bloomfield was led by senior center Lucas Dowdy, who tallied 19 points, while juniors Caleb Upchurch (16 points) and Kayden Craft (10 points) were productive.

Woodland hosts Advance (2-15) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Bloomfield will visit Bell City (5-12) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. A Wildcat win over the Cubs will give Sindle’s program its most victories in a season since 2018.