Corner Conference Champs
MALVERN—For the second straight season, the Stanton Viqueens went through the field and won the Corner Conference tournament title Friday night after defeating their heated rival the Villisca Blue Jays, 47-32.
Scoring would be an issue for both teams, especially Stanton, who had averaged 84 points per game the last four games prior to Friday night.
“We had some chances, I thought, to pull away there,” Viqueens Head Coach Bruce Subbert said. “We had some nice open looks; we just couldn’t make a bucket there for a while.”
Villisca’s defense held Stanton to 2-of-12 from beyond the three-point line.
The scoring was sparse in the first quarter, but Stanton led 9-6 by the end of it. Stanton picked it up in the second quarter and led at halftime, 23-10.
With a couple of points from Morganne Haer and Bree Ann Fisher, Villisca fought back, but the Blue Jays were still down 30-21 at the end of the third quarter. “They left everything out there, they worked hard,” Villisca Head Coach Donna Williams said. “We just didn’t generate an offense and Stanton had us pegged pretty easily. They put a lot of pressure on our girls that were scorers.”
Villisca never got closer than seven points in the fourth quarter.
Stanton spread out the scoring as five different Viqueens scored during the quarter.
“We don’t have a lot of offensive minded people,” Williams said. “It takes a certain mentality to want the ball and want to take the ball. We tend to want to pass before we want to score.”
Kadie Subbert finished the championship game as the leading scorer with 29 points on 10-of-18 shooting.
Subbert’s 10 rebounds gave her a double-double. Rachel Sorensen and Shelby Wagg each recorded seven points.
“Once [Kadie] got going, she did a really nice job,” Subbert said.
Jill Vanderhoof led Villisca with 10 points and nine rebounds. Vanderhoof hit two three-pointers in the second half to help close the gap.
“She has never shot a three in a game,” Williams said. “At halftime I said, ‘you shoot them in practice all the time, it’s time for you to step up and start shooting them’.”
Both teams faced each other after big wins in the semifinals, which were held Wednesday.
Villisca pulled off the upset of the night, possibly the season, when they defeated the Sidney Cowgirls, 43-41.
The game went back and forth for the entire first half, as the lead was exchanged five times (four in the first quarter), but Villisca led at halftime, 21-19.
Villisca’s main goal during the game was to shut down forward Aimee Osbourne, by double and sometimes even triple-teaming her.
Villisca had success against Osbourne, allowing her to score only six points.
Sidney took the lead early in the third quarter, but the Blue Jays went on a 12-0 run to go ahead 33-22.
Villisca’s lead crumbled away in the fourth quarter as Sidney’s guards started making their shots. The Cowgirls tied it and took a 41-39 lead with less than two minutes left in the game.
Villisca tied it and with 7.6 seconds left in the game won the game on a putback.
Both Vanderhoof and Focht had double-doubles in the win over Sidney. Focht finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Vanderhoof had 17 and 10.
Stanton wiped out Fremont-Mills 74-29.
The Viqueens dropped 25 points on the Knights and never looked back.
By the time the third quarter rolled around, Stanton was able to rest some of their starters in anticipation for the championship game.
Four Viqueen players ended the night with double-figure scoring, with Kadie Subbert leading the way as she scored 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting.
Shelby Wagg was a rebound shy of the double-double, as she finished with 13 points. Rachel Sorensen and Carmen Subbert each recorded 12 points.