O'Hara Over Liberty By One Point

In the first round of the 2009 Blue Valley North High School KA-MO Classic Girl's Basketball Tournament, the Lady Celtics from Archbishop O'Hara High School won a low-scoring defensive game with Liberty 39-38 on January 19. _____ O'Hara advanced to meet Blue Valley North, winner over Metro Academy 40-25. _____ In O'Hara's victory over Liberty, the closeness of the game was evident from O'Hara leading by one point after the initial quarter, trailing by four at the halfway mark 21-17, and trailing by one point going into the final quarter. _____ 15 of Liberty's points came from three-point shots indicating the effectiveness of Tori Hurtt and Hailey Houser patrolling the backboards on defense to prevent inside shots. _____ Alex Smith led the Celtic attack with 13 points, and in spite of the low scoring game six other O'Hara players adding to the scoring. The winning basket was scored by Cameron Randle with four seconds remaining in the game. _____ Free throws weren't much of a factor with both teams cashing in on five. _____ In the other bracket, Aquinas was a winner over Blue Springs South 55-46 and Hickman Mills won easily over Washington 80-28. _____