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Waynesville jumped out to a 30-17 halftime lead and held on to beat the Tigers 55-45 on Wednesday night at Springfield High School, advancing to the D-III regional final for the second straight season.
“It was big (beating Versailles),” said Waynesville coach Tim Gabbard. “These girls have lost to them twice (in the postseason). They said their goal for the year was to get to Versailles and beat them. They stuck to their goal and they did it.”
The Spartans will play Cincinnati Purcell-Marian at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Springfield. With a victory, Waynesville will advance to the state semifinals for the first time in 14 years.
The Cavaliers (22-5) beat Amanda-Clearcreek 52-30 in the other regional semifinal game.
“It’ll be a completely different game,” Gabbard said. “Purcell-Marian’s totally different. We know it will be a tough game. We’ve just got to play.”
Rachel Murray had 17 points for the Spartans, while Leah Butterbaugh scored 11 and Marcella Sizer added 10. Waynesville led 12-11 after the first quarter, but outscored the Tigers 18-6 in the second quarter to take a 30-17 lead in the locker room.
Lindsey Winner had 19 points and Ording added 15 for Versailles, which finished its season 21-6.
“This was a team we knew was going to be a tough team to beat,” said Tigers coach Jacki Stonebraker said. “They shot very well against us and that was our biggest fear, how well they were going to shoot. We rushed our shots. We didn’t get back defensively a couple times and that’s the ballgame.”
Versailles came out on fire in the second half, eventually grabbing the lead at 41-40 with about seven minutes remaining.
“When you’re down 13 at half a lot of teams would fold,” Stonebraker said. “We didn’t. We got the fight and the fire and that will to win. That’s bred into these girls from birth.”
But the Spartans never wavered.
“(Lindsey Winner) got hot,” Gabbard said. “We just stuck with our game plan playing man and if she beat us, she beat us. We wanted to keep the ball out of (Caitlin McEldowney’s) hands as much as possible. We think we did that. Without her having the ball, we felt it would be hard for them to run a play.”
Waynesville went on a 9-1 run in the next four minutes to secure a 49-42 lead on a basket by Murray. Versailles, the D-III state runner-up last season, wouldn’t get any closer than five points the rest of the way.
The Spartans finished the season ranked third in the Associated Press D-III girls state poll, earning wins against both Portsmouth Notre Dame and Franklin – who are both still alive in the postseason. That big game experience helped in the final moments, Gabbard said.
“We’ve had a lot of close games and I think that paid off,” he said.
Purcell Marian 52, Amanda Clearcreek 30: Sha'Dai Hale had a game-high 19 points as the Cavaliers jumped out to an early 13-2 first quarter lead and cruised to their first-ever regional final appearance.
Saturday’s victory over West Liberty-Salem was the program’s first district title win in 17 years, said Cavaliers coach Jamar Mosley. The Cavaliers have done it with defense, having allowed no more than 32 points in five postseason victories.
“Hopefully, we can bring home this regional,” he said. “The girls have been sticking to the game plan.”
The Cavaliers knew a regional final matchup with Waynesville was possible early in the season, Mosley said. They’ve been scouting them all year, he said.
“They’re a wonderful team,” he said. “We just have to stick to our scouting report. It’s going to be a good one.”
Amanda-Clearcreek finished 17-10.
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