MAAA Girls Semifinals Go Down To The Wire, Farmington & North County Advance To Championship Game

(Park Hills) The girls semifinals of the M.A.A.A. conference tournament were as advertised with both games coming down to the wire. The first game had the top-seeded Farmington Knights beat the four-seed West County Bulldogs 40-33.

Defense was the name of the game in this one. It was 9-9 at the end of the first quarter and tied at 20 going into the break with four lead changes in the first half.

West County didn’t wait long to take the lead back.

Farmington outscored West County 11-6 in the third quarter thanks to seven points from junior Angie Davis.

The Knights led the rest of the way to advance to the conference championship game. Farmington junior Jade Roth was the Applebee’s of Farmington Player of the Game with 13 points.

Coach Rusty Sancegraw says defense and teamwork propelled the Knights to the victory.

Farmington improves to 17-2. West County moves to 18-4.

In the second semifinal, North County survived a late surge by Central to advance to the M.A.A.A Tournament Game 45-43. It was a back and forth game for most of the first half. It was 13-13 after the first quarter after a ridiculous shot from Khloe Dishbein.

With some great play from Alyssa O’Connor, the Rebels were able to take a one-point lead into the locker room at halftime.

The second half was a different story, as the North County Lady Raiders were able to create some separation from the Rebels.

The Lady Raiders were able to stretch their lead to as much as 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Central was able to close the gap and was down 2 with 30 seconds left in the ballgame. Dishbein had a chance to tie the game but was called for a travel when she made her move to the basket. On the other hand, Hannah Politte made two free throws to seal the win for the Raiders. North County improves to 16-4 and will face Farmington in the championship game tomorrow evening at 5. Central drops to 15-4 and will face West County in the 3rd place game tonight at 2 o’clock. We’ll have the Fliegs Equipment Pregame Show at 1:45 tomorrow on The Boot and online at MyMoInfo.com.

Interview with Farmington’s Rusty Sancegraw: