Unbeaten Crusaders carry top seed in girls tourney

Last season the Saxony Lutheran girls basketball team entered the Kelso Supply Holiday Classic as the top seed.

The Crusaders reached the championship game for the second straight season before falling to Notre Dame in the championship game 40-37.

Saxony again will hold the No. 1 seed in the Kelso Supply Holiday Classic when it takes the court against eighth-seeded Scott City at 4 p.m. today at the Show Me Center.

Saxony coach Sam Sides expects the Crusaders to be top contenders for the title, and said the tournament field is just as evenly matched as always.

"You know, I really don't know," said Sides when asked who he thinks will contend for the tournament championship. "There are a lot of good teams in it again like there are every year. I saw Jackson and Notre Dame both play up at the Farmington tournament, so those two for sure and you know there might be some other teams that I haven't seen yet play. I try to focus on what we do and prepare for each game individually, so hopefully we'll be ready to go no matter who we play."

Saxony (6-0) has a good chance of making it back to the championship game for a third consecutive season -- with six juniors who were members of last year's fourth-place team at the Class 3 state tournament team and who also were on the Kelso Supply Holiday Classic championship team in 2012.

Sides said the Crusaders played a good defensive game against the Bulldogs in the championship last year, but failed to take good shots and get them to fall when they needed them.

"In that game I thought our defense was outstanding, I think for both teams it was a very low scoring game and our defensive intensity was great," Sides said. "We want to be able to maintain that, but sometimes we struggle scoring, especially inside. We have a hard time being able to get the ball inside and finishing because of our lack of size. But if we can get our shots outside to fall, that helps us obviously, then if we can get some transition we'll be in good shape."

There won't be many familiar faces on the court for fifth-seeded Notre Dame when it plays fourth-seeded Central today at 5:30 p.m.

The Bulldogs lost eight players to graduation, including all five starters from last year.

Sides said he's enjoyed the competitive games played between the two area powerhouses, but is aware this is a rebuilding year for Notre Dame.

"It's always tough to lose that many good players all at one time there. We had two or three good games the last couple years with them, and that was good competition," Sides said about Notre Dame. "I don't know if I'm sorry to see them go, but I know it's going to be quite a different look for them. You always miss good competition."

Sides said his team tries to utilize its speed, especially on defense and in transition.

"We're trying to really emphasize running the floor and putting pressure on other teams," Sides said. "I do have some talented kids and we try to space the floor and attack the basket. We'll keep on working on that and try to help each other to get open to get some shots, and we've got to constantly work on defending the post because we're not very big."

The Crusaders will look to junior Brianna Mueller, who leads the team in scoring with 13 points per game to get their offense going.

Sides added that he expects junior Maddie Brune to be a bigger contributor after sustaining a concussion earlier this year. Brune will make just her second start today after scoring four points in a 56-49 win over North County on Thursday.

Saxony is drawing on its depth as it contends with other injuries. Junior Tess Daniel suffered an ACL injury at the end of the soccer season and is not expected to be able to play until the end of December. Freshmen Courtney Kester and Masyn McWilliams have been called on to fill the opening until Daniel returns.

Despite injuries and a lack of size, Sides said his team is experienced and resilient.

"They're a pretty competitive bunch and they usually rise to the occasion," Sides said. "Like I said, we'll give them our best shot no matter who we're playing. We haven't even discussed this tournament really, we're just trying to work on getting better every day.

Jackson, the No. 2 seed, has lost just one game this season and may be the biggest obstacle in the way of Saxony winning its second tournament championship in three years.

"We expect to compete with everybody. It doesn't matter if it's Saxony or any other school. We expect to be very competitive," Jackson coach Tyler Abernathy said. "We're blessed to have good basketball players, who work hard. I think when you have those two things you have a chance of being successful."

Jackson (4-1) won the tournament in 2011, but has lost in the semifinals the past two seasons.

Abernathy said Saxony was an obvious favorite in last year's tournament, and he doesn't expect that to change this year.

"Notre Dame and Saxony, I thought last year were clearly the two best teams," Abernathy said. "Notre Dame was loaded with a bunch of seniors and they came out and they performed like a bunch of seniors. Saxony has been in the title game now two years in a row, so they're obviously a team that's been there and played in those pressure games. So, even though they're primarily juniors, they're a pretty seasoned group when it comes to this tournament."

The Indians take on seventh-seeded Meadow Heights at 7 p.m. today.

Sikeston is the third seed and closes out the first day of the tournament against sixth-seeded Perryville at 8:30 p.m.

Tickets are $5 a person, with admission free to ages 5 and younger.

Abernathy said his team will have to play as a unit to have success against Saxony and others.

He expects his veteran leadership to enable that to happen, with the likes of juniors Cassidi Tomsu and Kayla Keith and senior Rachel Crites.

"We've obviously got the Tomsu girl and the Crites and Keith girls, who do a lot of scoring for us, but for us to be successful, especially against a team like Saxony, it's going to have to be a team effort," Abernathy said. "We're going to have to have everybody play well on that night. We're going to have to share the ball on offense and then defend as a unit."