O'HARA CAGERS IN SEMIFINAL GAMES

On January 20, the Archbishop O'Hara High School girls basketball team moved to the Finals in the 2009 Blue Valley North Basketball Tournament by handing the host team a 57-41 loss while the boys' team in the Culver's Classic came up short 58-61 to Lee's Summit North and go on to play Rockhurst for third place. _____ _____ _____ In the boys game, the Celtics stayed with the Broncos for one quarter by scoring 20 points but had a low scoring second quarter to trail by halftime 30-25. The Broncos increased the lead to 48-39 before the Celtics rallied to outpoint the Broncos 19-13 in the final quarter, but it wasn't enough to catch up. _____ Josh Rupprecht poured in 17 points and JeVon Lyle chipped in 14 for O'Hara. _____ Rockhurst lost by one point to Lee's Summit 74-73 in a close wild game and will try to make up for an earlier loss to the Celtics when the two teams play for the third place trophy. _____ Hickman Mills having won 77-50 over Lee's Summit Community Christain will play Raytown for the Consolation championship; Raytown was the victor over Blue Springs South 64-47. _____ _____ _____ In the girls' game, the Celtics outpointed the Mustangs in every quarter, leading by three after the first quarter, by five after the second quarter, and by nine after three quarters. _____ Alex Smith had 16 and Ashley Clark had 14 for O'Hara in the game. _____ O'Hara plays Aquinas for the Championship on Friday at 7 PM. Aquinas had an easy time dropping Hickman Mills 44-17 to reach the Finals. _____

WrestlersCome Close in Meet With Clinton.

Eero Johnson, Danijo Adams, Jeremy Ambrose, Travis Peter, Ethan Ambrose, Jake Fortin, and Louis Golden won their individual matches in O'Hara's wrestling competition with Clinton, but the team lost by a score of 39-33.

ALL DISTRICT FOOTBALL FOR 2009 SEASON

The votes are now in and the Third Place in State O'Hara Celtics did very well in District Teams. Matt Falke was named to the First Team Defensive Line and Second Team Offensive Guard. Aaron Stubblefield was name to the First Team Wide Receiver and Second Team Defensive Back. Other First Team selections were Quarterback T. J. White , Louie Golden Defensive Back, and Joe Melchoir Defensive Back. Ted Dujakovich made the Second Team Offensive Tackle.

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. _____

O'HARA IN CULVER'S CLASSIC

Jumping off to a great start, the Archbishop O'Hara boys basketball team won a 61-47 game with Blue Springs South on January 18th in the first round of the Culver's Classic. _____ By halftime the score was 28-11. _____ D. J. Jackson led the way with 17 points and sophomore Daniel Hurtt had 14. Ronnie Miller and JeVon Lyle made double figures also. _____ O'Hara earned the right to meet Lee's Summit North on Wednesday. LSN won over Raytown 64-47. _____ In the other bracket, Lee's Summit topped Hickman Mills 73-54 and Rockhurst had an easy time with Lee's Summit Community Christian 69-29. _____ The games were played at the Lee's Summit High School Fieldhouse.

O'Hara 55 Saint Pius X 36

The O'Hara Lady Celtics handed the Saint Pius Warriors their first West Central Conference loss on January 15 when they used four scoring spurts to bring home a 55-36 victory. _____ Saint Pius never led in the game but did reach an 11-11 tie in the first quarter after which the Celtics scored six unanswered points to complete the quarter. _____ In the second quarter, the Celtics had another spurt of six points for a ten point advantage at 26-16. By halftime, the score was 35-21. _____ Saint Pius started the second half with five points to lessen the lead to 35-26 and O'Hara answered with the next seven points to enter the fourth quarter ahead 42-26. _____ The Warriors made one last attempt to get back in the game whittling the margin to eleven points at 44-33, but the Celtics came up with a spurt of eight points. _____ Victoria Hurtt and Hailey Houser dominated under the boards and scored 26 points between them. Alex Smith tagged on a dozen tallies and Cameron Randle ended her day with nine points. _____ O'Hara is undefeated in Conference play with six wins while Saint Pius went to 3-1.

O'Hara 58 Smith-Cotton 39

O'HARA LADY CELTICS WIN IN SEDALIA _____ The Archbishop O'Hara High School Lady Celtics defeated the Smith-Cotton Tigers 58-39 on January 14. _____ Led by Ashley Clark who scored 15 of O'Hara's points, the Celtics held the Tigers to under ten points for each of the first three quarters. _____ O'Hara's two tall forwards Tori Hurtt and Hailey Houser added 15 and 14 points to the Celtic total. _____ Even though the Celtics missed five free throws in a row to end the first quarter, they had a 13-9 advantage thanks to eight unanswered points earlier in the period. _____ They started the second quarter with six more points and by halftime O'Hara was ahead 28-15. _____ Alex Smith and Ashley Clark each shot a three-pointer in O'Hara's 18 point third quarter while the defense held the Tigers basketless; Smith-Cotton's only points in the quarter came from four free throws. _____ The fourth quarter turned out to be a fast-paced shootout. The Tigers outgunned the Celtics 20-12 but the outcome of the game was in little doubt.