Lady 'Cats claw Sweet Springs

A lay-up by junior Niki Kruger (12) was part of Slater's 9-0 run during the final three minutes of the first period.
(Chris Allen/Democrat-News)

[Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

The Lady Wildcats came up with 36 takeaways for a 53-43 victory in the first round of the 80th New Franklin Tournament. When Slater began holding its own on the boards during the second half, the Lady Greyhounds' lone major advantage was negated.

Sweet Springs scored the game's first seven points as senior Stephanie Krause stole an inbounds pass for an easy bucket, junior Kathleen Tyler knocked down a three-pointer and junior Kristin Jones sank a 15-footer.

However, turnovers plagued the Lady 'Hounds throughout the game, due in no small part to Slater's full-court trapping press -- applied even after missed shots. Junior Niki Kruger fed senior Rachel Gonzalez and sophomore Saria Leimkuehler for jumpers and when Gonzalez drained a pair of bombs to tie the score at 11-all, the battle was on.

During one stretch of the first quarter, Sweet Springs coughed the ball up on six straight possessions without a shot -- and the Lady 'Cats capitalized with a 9-0 run to take a 17-11 lead into the second period.

Slater wasn't able to pull away. Against a 2-3 zone defense, the Purple settled for long-range shots -- 15 of its 33 first-half field-goal attempts coming from outside the arc, with only four falling. The Lady 'Hounds scored the final six points of the half, four from the free-throw line, with junior Hollie Heaper's bucket from the elbow sending them into the locker room trailing by only two points.

Junior Brittany Cornine converted two from the stripe and Kruger took a steal to the rack to extend the Lady 'Cats' lead to six points early in the third quarter.

When Sweet Springs turned the ball over for the third time in the first two minutes, head coach Boyd Jones spent his second timeout of the half.

That seemed to settle the Greyhounds. Tyler hit from outside and junior Jodie Harris drove for a deuce, forcing Slater head coach Bob Gonzalez to call timeout a minute later.

Junior Rachel Thornton posted up down low for two Sweet Springs goals, but the Lady 'Cats gained ground with a Leimkuehler three and Cornine lay-up. The Lady 'Hounds gave up the rock on their last five possessions of the third quarter and Slater made them pay with a put-back by senior Lauren Weiker and sophomore Ana Jackson's jumper.

Sweet Springs wasn't going away, though. Krause connected twice and Thornton closed the margin to 42-40, but another of Kruger's seven steals led to a fast break for Jackson and then Gonzalez struck from downtown.

The Lady 'Hounds had a golden opportunity to close the gap with 2:49 remaining in the game when Jones was fouled while scoring and Leimkuehler was slapped with a technical foul. But Jones was only able to make one of three from the line and Krause's shot on the ensuing possession was off the mark, Sweet Springs coming away with only three of a possible seven points to catch up.

Cornine got loose in the paint twice within 30 seconds and Kruger finished the contest with a pick and transition bucket.

Krause scored 11 points and Jones had seven points and 11 rebounds for the Lady 'Hounds (4-5), who will play a pedestrian Prairie Home club -- which lost to New Franklin, 50-17 -- in Wednesday's consolation semifinal.

Gonzalez led all scorers with 16 points, with four teammates each adding eight points -- including Jackson, who had 10 boards, Slater overcoming a 28-11 first-half deficit on the glass with a 22-18 edge after intermission.

The Lady 'Cats (6-1) take a six-game win streak into Thursday's semifinal clash with No. 1 seed New Franklin.