Mar 6, 2008

The Bradleyville girls and the Chadwick boys won district titles in their respective championship games here last Friday night. For the second straight year, Ava High School served as host site for the Class 1 District 3 tournament which began on Feb. 23. A packed-out gym was alive with enthusiasm on Friday night which took fans back to the Ava Tournament days of 25 or 30 years ago when similar crowds were not uncommon on championship night. Both the Chadwick boys and girls advanced to the finals of the district tournament here last week, along with the Dora boys and the Bradleyville girls. The Bradleyville girls' team is a story in itself, overcoming the loss of their coach in January, then going on to win the school's first-ever district championship in girls' play. The team has been guided through the final weeks of the season by volunteer coach Melissa Herschend. But the team has also utilized leadership of seniors Lindsey Clemans, Hailee Norwine and Julie Case, as well as juniors Megan Taylor, Melanie Haes, Kayla Day and Tamra Whittaker to hold the team together and keep them focused. Bradleyville came out strong on Friday night taking an early 6-0 lead, and led Chadwick 14-5 after the first period. The Lady Eagles never trailed in the first half, although Chadwick pulled within one point, 22-21 in the second quarter. Bradleyville held a 25-21 lead at halftime. Despite poor shooting at the free throw line late in the game, the Lady Eagles were strong on the boards and were able to maintain their lead and win the game, 53-48. Chadwick took a brief 28-27 lead at the 5 minute mark in the third period, but a determined Bradleyville team never gave up the fight and pulled out the victory. The Lady Eagles hit only 5-for-25 at the line Friday night, but shot 50 percent from the floor in this third meeting of the two teams. Each time prior, Bradleyville won by a single point. Norwine led Bradleyville with 18 points and Clemans added 14. Chadwick's Brittney Jones had 22 points to lead all scorers. Chadwick's boys also started their game strong, jumping out to a 27-10 lead after one period. But Dora turned it around in the second quarter, outscoring the Cardinals 23-14 and trimming the deficit to 41-33 at the half. Chadwick, led by 24 points from Shaun Thomas and 20 from Nathan Hale, held on to win the game and the district title by the same halftime margin, 70-62. Dora was led by 19 points from Nathan Roberts, one of three Falcons in double figures. Chadwick was successful, however, in holding Dora senior Derik Collins to just nine points on the night. Jacob Pardo had 12 points for the Falcons and Jacob Letterman added 10. Rounding out the scoring for Dora were Elijah Prater 7, and Dalton Hunter 5. Others scoring for Chadwick were Patrick Holt 12, Seth Thomas 8, Aaron Phillips 4 and Dylan Coffer 2. Scoring for the Bradleyville girls on Friday night, in addition to Norwine and Clemans, were Taylor 9, Day 6, Haes 4 and Whittaker 2. Adding to Chadwick’s tally were Krystyn Dollarhide 10, Erika Davis 7, Katie Hale 6, and Mindi Rains 3. The Bradleyville girls and Chadwick boys were scheduled to play in the state sectionals at Republic on Tuesday night, but because of heavy snow in that area, the games were postponed until Wednesday evening when Bradleyville (15-7) would play Exeter (21-6), and Chadwick (23-4) would take on Verona (13-10). With a win on Wednesday night the Bradleyville girls would advance to the state quarterfinals where they would face Delta (23-2) at the West Plains Civic Center at 1 o'clock Saturday afternoon. The Chadwick boys, with a win Wednesday, would play Scott Co. Central (26-2) at 2:45 Saturday, also at the West Plains Civic Center. The Chadwick boys reached the finals on Friday night by defeating Hurley in the semifinals game on Thursday night, 66-35. Dora made it to the championship game by beating Bakersfield 78-60 on Thursday. Bakersfield (60): Dakota Ellison 17, Cody Divelbiss 16, Kyle Parrish 12, Cole Denton 8, Logan Mitchell 7. Dora (78): Derik Collins 30, Nathan Roberts 17, Jacob Letterman 12, Elijah Prater 8, Jacob Pardo 6, Vance Lee 5. 1 2 3 4 Final Bakersfield 16 11 17 16 60 Dora 20 21 17 20 78 Hurley (35): Jacob Pemberton 15, Steven Jennings 6, Brycton Burk 4, Larry Cloud 4, Andy Orphan 2, Cole Bond 2, Ben Scott 2. Chadwick (66): Shaun Thomas 23, Nathan Hale 18, Patrick Holt 16, Seth Thomas 5, Aaron Phillips 4 1 2 3 4 Final Hurley 4 9 11 11 35 Chadwick 18 12 22 14 66