State preview: Saxony girls have much in common with semifinal foe

Don't waste your time looking for differences between the teams when Saxony Lutheran squares off against El Dorado Springs in tonight's Class 3 girls basketball state semifinal.

There aren't many.

Neither team is particularly tall on the front line. Both teams employ man-to-man pressure defenses. Both teams like to press and run the court.

And both teams are playing in their first final four.

"I've seen a little of them on tape," Saxony coach Sam Sides said. "It's like looking in a mirror."

El Dorado Springs coach Beau Swopes said the same.

"We got to see a little film on Saxony," Swopes said Wednesday afternoon. "Our assistant coach said, 'That's us.'"

The Crusaders and Bulldogs will face off at 6:40 p.m. today at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo. The winners will play for the Class 3 state championship at 2:40 p.m. Saturday, while the losers will play for third place at 2:30 p.m. Friday.

As it does so often, the game today likely will come down to which team executes its game plan better, something that doesn't show through on any game tape.

"You can't be overconcerned about that," Sides said. "You've got to take care of your own business and do what we do, and do them well, then use that and make some kind of adaption to who we're playing. But we've got to focus on what we do and just try to do it better."

The Crusaders have enjoyed their share of blowout wins this season, but Sides believes it's the games against tougher competition that prepared his squad for its run to the final four.

"I think our girls responded well to that," Sides said. "I think some of the best games we've played -- with the exception being Dexter -- I think we stepped up to play Notre Dame both times. We played probably our best ever, in both those games, than we've seen all year."

Saxony (24-4) lost twice to Notre Dame, which lost to Dexter in overtime last week in a Class 4 District 1 title tilt. The Crusaders' other losses this season were to Dexter and Cor Jesu, a Class 5 power from St. Louis.

"We tried to upgrade our schedule a little bit, playing Dexter last year and this year," Sides said. "That really toughened us up because I don't think there's any question they're the best girls team in this area. We competed with them for awhile, but they blew us out in the second half. But like I told them, I don't care who we face the rest of the year, we're not going to play anybody as good as Dexter or Notre Dame in Class 3.

"Playing those teams hopefully, even though we didn't beat any of them, prepares you for your own class. And that's what we tried to achieve."

The Crusaders start three players who averaged in double figures, led by sophomore guard Brianna Mueller's scoring average of 15.4 points a game. Guard Grace Mirly and swingman Raegan Wieser average 11.9 and 10.0 points, respectively.

"I think on any one, given day, depending on how they guard us, I've got five or six girls who can score in double figures," Sides said. "That makes us very difficult to guard, I think."

El Dorado Springs (26-3) features sisters -- senior guard Alexa Schaaf and sophomore forward Kameron Schaaf -- who do the bulk of the Bulldogs' scoring. Alexa averages 18.7 points a game, while Kameron checks in at 12.7 per contest.

"They've stepped up and played pretty good for us this year," Swopes said. "They're our leading scorers and have been for most of the year."

Still, Swopes is able to go eight or nine players deep. He said he's got a good mixture of upper- and underclassmen, with two seniors and two juniors joining four sophomores enjoying the bulk of playing time.

"We went into every game knowing we weren't the tallest team out there," Swopes said. "We just try to outwork the other team and pressure the ball to try and make it tough to get the ball inside."

The evening's other semifinal pits Ash Grove (27-4) against Hermann (27-1). Hermann's roster features many players who competed for the Bearcats' volleyball team that won the Missouri Class 2 title last fall at the Show Me Center.

"They're a pretty athletic group," Hermann coach Todd Anderson said of his squad, which boasts six seniors. "There's something about having a strong senior group that leads to success."

Senior forward Jamie Gleeson leads the Bearcats in scoring at 17.0 points a game, while senior guard Karinne Lane averages 14.2.

Several of Hermann's seniors were members of the Bearcats' team that placed second in Class 3 in 2011. Overall, Herman has appeared in the final four five times, winning the state championship in 1987.

Ash Grove comes into today's play with first-year coach Jessie Alsup, who spent the past few seasons as an assistant. The Pirates are senior-laden, with nine on the roster, and feature six players that average between 6.6 and 13.9 points a game, led by 6-foot senior forward Lakin Simmerman's 13.9 average.

"Any night, anybody can lead us in scoring," Alsup said. "They play very well together as a team."

Senior guard Madelyn Johnson averages 10.6 points a game and serves as the Pirates' sharpshooter, having hit 55 of 141 3-point attempts (39 percent).

Simmerman has proven to be a presence in the paint, connecting on 67.9 percent of her shots from the field.