The Lady Owls finally subdued Boonville behind the 14 points and eight rebounds by senior Courtney Henley (5). (Chris Allen/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge]

For a little more than a half, the Marshall girls' basketball team's season opener went about as well as could be expected Thursday -- a little rough, but not especially pressing.

Then the Lady Owls suffered a cold spell and saw a 14-point lead erased by Boonville before pulling out the semifinal victory in the second annual Marshall Tournament, 46-43.

Senior Rachel Hartley's eight points led Marshall to a 35-21 lead with four minutes remaining in the third period, but Marshall scored only four points over the next eight minutes. Junior Bethany Pfeiffer went on an 11-point second-half splurge for the Lady Pirates, who caught up on sophomore Heather English's drive to the hole with 25 seconds remaining.

Senior Courtney Henley broke the tie with a free throw and senior Amy Durham came up with a steal, was fouled, and sank both charity shots with four seconds remaining to give the Lady Owls the win.

English finished with 16 points and Pfeiffer had 11 for Boonville (1-1), which plays Kansas City Christian for third place today.

Henley had 14 points, eight rebounds and five steals to pace Marshall (1-0) -- which shot only 30.8 percent from the field, but controlled the boards by a 32-18 margin. Senior Paige Fifer pulled down nine rebounds and senior Kylie Heying contributed three assists and three steals.

The Lady Owls will face Grain Valley tonight for the tourney title.

Boys

Santa Fe 52, Wellington 51

ALMA -- Santa Fe took a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter and barely hung on to nip Wellington-Napoleon, 52-51, in Thursday's semifinal round of the I-70 Conference Tournament at Alma.

Sophomore sharpshooter Kent Hendrix buried a pair of threes as the Tigers took a 12-9 first-quarter lead, but he remained quiet until the closing minutes and Santa Fe went on a 24-11 run during the middle two frames behind 10 points from junior Logan Kirchhoff.

Wellington (2-1) rallied with 28 points in the final period, junior Brett Williams hitting three outside jumpers and scored 12 of his game-high 20 points down the stretch. However, the Chiefs made seven of nine free throws, junior Taylor Wesley converted a conventional three-point play, during the fourth quarter.

Junior Luke Brandt paced Santa Fe with 13 points and three assists and junior Bryan Sander collected 12 rebounds as the Chiefs controlled the boards by a 46-24 margin.

Santa Fe (2-0) will take on Concordia, a 59-40 winner over Orrick, in the championship game Saturday.

Sweet Springs 65, Crest Ridge 61

ALMA -- Sweet Springs apparently felt the 29 three-point shots two days earlier during its 36-point loss to Santa Fe weren't enough, the it got really busy bombing Thursday.

The Greyhounds launched 53 attempts from outside the arc, and they made only 10 of them it was sufficient to down Crest Ridge, 65-61, in the consolation semifinal round of the I-70 Conference Tournament at Alma. The head bombardier was sophomore Billy Martin with 16 tries, making three and finishing with 17 points.

In only 12 games in Missouri history has a team shot more threes, and 11 of those were last year by William Chrisman -- which helped Sweet Springs head coach Tim Smith install the "Grinnell system."

Junior Tucker Wagoner had 22 points for the Cougars (0-3).

Senior James DeWeese had 16 points and sophomore Zach Thomas provided 11 points for the 'Hounds (1-1), who play Windsor for fifth place Saturday.

Slater 67, Westran 62 (ot)

GLASGOW -- Senior Aric Falls erupted for 34 points and 17 rebounds Thursday to lead Slater in the consolation final of the Glasgow Tournament with a 69-64 overtime victory over Lewis and Clark Conference rival Westran.

The Hornets led by nine points at halftime, but Falls tallied 16 third-quarter points to lead the Purple comeback. Seniors Kyle Durham and Nick Allen scored early in the overtime period, with Falls and Durham each converting a pair of free throws later to seal the victory.

Junior Roscoe Robinson had 25 points to top Westran (1-2).

Junior Garrett Falls chipped in with 11 points and Durham finished with 10 for the Wildcats (1-2), who will play Keytesville for a trophy today.