Howe girls win district

By CRAIG HALL
HOWE—Neither Howe’s boys or girls got an easy draw in the Class A district finals held here Saturday night.

The Lady Lions got a senior-laden Clayton team while the Lions faced a Smithville team that had already beat Howe once this season.

Howe’s girls outscored Clayton 7-1 down the stretch to break a tie and prevail, 39-33, while Smithville jumped to a big lead early and had to hang on at the end to take a 67-63 win.

	Photos by CRAIG HALL Howe's Jace Johnson saves a ball from going out of bounds, shortly before bouncing the ball off the Smithville player.
Lynsey White gets off a shot against Clayton's Lisa Wright during the Lady Lions' win Saturday night.

Both Howe teams advance to the regional tournament on Thursday at Eastern. The Lady Lions will play the winner of Wright City and Rattan in the winners’ bracket while the boys fell into the losers’ bracket.

With the game tied at 32 with 1:46 left, Howe’s Tori Kellogg stole the ball, drove the length of the court and was fouled. She hit the first free throw and missed the second to give the Lady Lions a 33-32 lead.

Clayton turned the ball over and Kellogg was fouled again. She hit one of two free throws again to put Howe up by two.

After an exchange of possessions, Howe’s Chelsea Baggs was fouled and made one of two free throws with 23 seconds left, her first point of the game. Randa Grant rebounded a Clayton miss and passed off to Baggs, who was once again fouled.

Baggs made both free throws to clinch the win. Kellogg hit two more free throws with 1.8 left for the final points.

Howe led only by a point at halftime before going on a 13-4 run to built a 10-point lead. Clayton answered early in the fourth, going on a 9-1 run to tie the score.

Brianna Hillebrand led Howe with 10 points, Grant added nine. Kaela Potts paced Clayton with 13 and Tara Howze had 10.

The win improved Howe to 24-1 on the season and was the fifth-straight district championship.

Howe’s boys had lost to Smithville in their second game of the season on the road by 20 points. After trailing by double digits for most of the game, Howe cut the lead to three points late after Smithville missed the front end of a one-and-one three times. Jared Wann hit back-to-back baskets to cut the lead to three points before Rick Jewel finally made a free throw for the Braves to up the lead back to four.

Howe had a couple of chances but could not score and Smithville, now 17-6, escaped with the win to advance into the winners’ bracket of the regional tournament.

The Lions’ rally in the fourth quarter was led by senior Jaron Wiggington, who scored 10 of his 26 points in the quarter. Jace Johnson added 13 for Howe and Jared Wann scored 11.

Jewell led four Smithville players in double figures with 23. Colby Nichols and Brett Lowrie each had 14 and Zach McBroom scored 10.