Beeson, Shoot lift Eagles over Tolton

Eagles senior Skyler Beeson

A furious third quarter rally led to a fourth quarter 20-9 run and the Southern Boone Eagles once again took down the bigger Father Tolton Trailblazers by a 51-43 score in the semi-final round of the Class 3 District 9 tournament at Wardsville on Wednesday.

The Eagles will face unbeaten, top-seeded St. James on Friday at 7 pm at Blair Oaks for the district championship. The SoBoCo seniors will by trying to win their third straight district title.

Father Tolton, seeded second in districts at 20-6, one spot ahead of Southern Boone, had a 32-26 lead with 1:19 left in the third quarter. But SoBoCo scored the final five points of the period, punctuated by Shoot’s 3-point shot in the final minute.

Still, the Trailblazers came out strong in the fourth period and built a 5-point lead at 36-31 with six minutes remaining.

But sophomore scored on a baseline layup, and Beeson hit a 3-pointer to tie the game. Ponder ripped the ball away from the Tolton guard on the in-bounds pass and drove in for the layup and less than 30 seconds, the. Eagles held a 38-36 lead.

Tolton tied the game at 38-38, but it was all Beeson, Shoot and the Eagles in the final 4:32.

Shoot drove the lane for a layup for a 2-point lead and on the ensuing Tolton possession, Emma Anderson took a charge on the defensive end – pumping up the Eagles bench and the capacity Southern Boone crowd.

“There was no doubt that we had a lot more energy in the fourth quarter,” Beeson said afterwards. “We were more rested and had the momentum.”

Beeson scored three baskets, driving the lane each time, around two key 3-point missed shots by Tolton, that allowed SoBoCo to stretch the lead to 46-40 with 2-minutes to play.

From there it was a matter of Shoot hitting 3-of-4 free throws and Tolton missed the front end of a 1-and-1.

When Meagan Barnett missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with less than a minute remaining, Anderson leaped in to grab the offensive board and passed the ball to Shoot who was fouled. Shoot dropped in another free throw to put the game out of reach at 49-40.

Beeson led the Eagles with 21 points, Shoot scored 17 – most of them in the second half.

“Everyone here dressed in red wanted the ball in their hands in the second half,” said Eagles coach Tony Phillips.

Beeson scored 12 points in the first half, but was blocked by Tolton’s Michaela Wright twice. Still, Beeson and

Shoot kept driving the ball at the Trailblazers until they had success.

“It wasn’t really intimidating,” Beeson said, “we know what she can do and it just makes you change what shot you take.”

Shoot said the Eagles were calm and confident throughout the game.

“This was a big game playoff atmosphere and that’s exciting,” Shoot said. “We knew we had time in the fourth quarter and we just needed to keep shooting – we knew we would get some shots to fall.”

The win was the third consecutive victory for the Eagles girls over the Trailblazers. SoBoCo defeated Tolton last season in the Southern Boone Classic championship game on a Faryn Griffin 3-point shot and then defeated them in the district championship game in February.

• The Eagles boys will have their opportunity to beat Father Tolton tonight when the two teams square off in their semi-final game at 6 p.m. at Blair Oaks High School.