Both O'Hara Basketball Teams are District Runners-Up

In Missouri Class 4 District 13, the Archbishop O'Hara High School basketball teams took second place, the girls by a 35-30 score to the Notre Dame de Sion Storm and the boys by a 64-50 score to the Hickman Mills Cougars on Friday evening, February 27th. In the girls contest, it came down to free throws. With the score 30-30 with 1:30 remaining in the game, the Celtics missed on four free throws while the Storm cashed in on their first four without a miss and then added 1 out of 2 to finalize the scoring. The Storm did not take the lead in the game until the last 40 seconds of the first quarter when they went up by two and held on until the first quarter ended. But the Celtics regained the lead in the second quater by conseutive three-pointers by Ashley Clark and Alex Smith. O'Hara maintained the advantage all the way into the third quarter when the Storm finally caught up. By the end of that quarter, the Celtics were down by two. In the fourth quarter neither team could get more than a two-point edge until Hailey Houser's free throw knotted the score at 30-30. The only time either team led by five points was at the last successful free throw. Houser led the O'Hara attack with 10 points while Alex Smith and Ashley Clark had 5 each in the low scoring contest. Only Teresa Turner got 10 points for the winners and no one else on their team reached 5 points. In the boys contest, O'Hara played very well into the fourth quarter without the services of their top two scorers of their season and one of their better three-point threats. In fact they did not let the Cougars take the lead until the start of the second period. Sophomore guard JeVon Lyle scored 9 of his 17 total points in the first quarter and the Celtics jumped ahead 13-9. The O'Hara team had a cold second quarter but still were only down by 5 at the half. Four three-point shots by the Cougars in the first half made an uphill road for the Celtics. In the third quarter, the Cougars added three more treys, when at last, DJ Jackson and Jevon Lyle answered with three pointers to bring the margin to four points at 39-35 entering the final quarter. Hickman Mills pulled ahead in the final quarter by as much as 11 points, but the Celtics didn't quit When Jevon Lyle hit a three-point basket with less than two minutes left to the game, the score became 56-50. However the rest of the points were scored by the Cougars, mostly on free throws and an uncontested final layup by Jon Williams just before the buzzer. Besides Lyle, O'Hara's Dominique Fields scored in double figures with 13 points. For the Cougars, Joseph Dennis had three three-point baskets, Earl Peterson had two, and Michael Albiter had two. The O'Hara boys will be graduating two players, Joe Pepple and Trevor Krasowsky, and will have most of their team back for another go next season.

BOYS DISTRICT BASKETBALL

The Archbishop O'Hara High School boys basketball team won their semi-final District 13 game with Center by a score of 62-50. They go on to play Hickman Mills for the Championship. Both Center and Hickman Mills were ranked teams in Class 4 while O'Hara will be waiting for the next rankings. Hickman Mill held the #4 spot and Center was at #6. In the game with the Yellowjackets, the Celtics led nearly the entire game but didn't break away until the second quarter with a 21-12 performance. DJ Jackson was the sparkplug for the first half, but his fourth foul limited his second half efforts. Mark Braden took over and ended up the game's leading scorer with 17 points. Jackson had 15 and Dominique Fields who played a great defensive game had 11. Only one Center player reached double figures with 12 points.

GIRLS DISTRICT BASKETBALL

The Archbishop O'Hara High School girls basketball team won their semifinal District 13 game with Hickman Mills by a score of 43-41 in overtime. They face Notre Dame de Sion for the District Championship on Friday, February 27th. Off to a great start in the first quarter against the ranked Cougars, the Celtics pulled ahead by 11 points and maintained that lead until halftime. At one time the Celtics led by as much as 15 points. However the second half did not fare very well when the team was held to a total of eight points for the two quarters while the Cougars inched their way up to a 36-36 tie game. In the overtime period, O'Hara scored first with Hailey Houser's layup. A three-point shot by Alex Smith was a real help, and both players each hit a free throw while Hickman Mills was held to just five points. Alex Smith was the game's leader in total points with 12 and Hailey Houser had 11. ----------------------------- In the first round of the District play, the Celtics had an easy time with Ruskin winning 56-23with the game ending with a running clock. O'Hara pulled ahead by ten in the first quarter and increased the lead in each of the following quarters. The scoring was spread over all the Celtic players with Cameron Randle emerging as the game's top producer with a dozen tallies.

How O'Hara Did In STATE Wrestling

Two wrestlers represented O'Hara at the State Tournament in Class 2. At 125 lb, Travis Peter lost a close 7-5 decision in the first round to Mike King from Central Park Hills. Zach Taylor at 160 lb got past Alex Eddings from Hancock with and injury default decision to advance to the quarterfinals. Taylor avoided losing on a pin against Daniel Scherer from Saint Mary Institute/Country Day but lost in a technical fall 17-0. O'Hara as a team had four points in the State to tie them with Marshall for 39th place among the 46 schools involved.

O'HARA BOYS ARE CO-CHAMPS IN WCC

The Center Yellowjackets won the basketball game on February 20th with the O'Hara Celtics 67-54 to share in the West Central Conference Championship. In their first game, O'Hara was the victor 80-75, but this time the Celtics got off to a slow start and did not show their usual spark until the fourth quarter when they outpointed the Yellowjackets 24-15. For O'Hara, TJ White did score15 and JeVon Lyle had 11, but the rest of the team were kept from double figures. As for the Yellowjackets, the trio of Anthony Rule, Christian Williams, and Cortez Barrett combined for a total of 56 points, each scoring over 15 points each. The Co-Champs haven't seen the last of each other inasmuch as they are pitted against each other in the first round of the District 13 competition meeting on February 24th which is scheduled to be played at Center.

Lady Celtics Win WCC Championship

FOUR SENIOR LADY CELTICS HONORED AT O'HARA-SAINT PIUS GAME Seniors Patrice Jackson, Jasmyn Franks, Jackie Kruger, and Paulina Pengelley were given special attention at the basketball game between O'Hara and Saint Pius X on February 20th in which the Celtics beat the Warriors 64-28. It was their last home game. The game completed O'Hara's undefeated quest for the West Central Conference Championship and was never much in doubt. Two of the seniors made double figures with ten points apiece: Jackson and Franks. Kruger pitched in 4 and Pengelley had 2. O'Hara's top point producer was Hailey Houser with 12. The 22-6 first quarter indicated how unmatched the two teams were and the game ended with the running clock. However, one of the evening's exciting 0ccurrences was the come-from-behind win by the junior varsity. Trailing most of the entire game, the young ladies rallied in the end in grand fashion. In the fourth quarter, the Celtics were down 46-38 and then scored the next 13 points while holding the Warriors scoreless! Pressure on defense combined with steals, turnovers, and fast breaks made the difference. Top scorers for O'Hara were freshmen Kayla McGee (13) and Julia Runser (9).

12 THREE-POINTERS NOT ENOUGH TO BEAT CELTICS

The O'Hara boys basketball team defeated the Smith-Cotton Tigers 77-64 in a make-up game on February 19th but had to overcome twelve three-pointers, nine of which were scored in the first half of the game. The first 12 points scored by Smith-Cotton were on four of the three-pointers and the Celtics didn't take the lead until Joe Pepple scored to make the score 21-20 before the first quarter ended. By the end of the period, O'Hara led 27-23. Then 12 of the Tigers' next 14 points were on three-pointers boosting them to a six point advantage. Leading 39-33 going into the last two minutes of play before halftime, the Tigers saw their bubble burst. The Celtics behind the fast breaks and layups of DJ Jackson and TJ White along with a pair of Aaron Stubblefiled free throws scored the last nine points of the second period, and O'Hara was able to go into the second half ahead 42-39. The first seven points of the third quarter were O'Hara's, provided by Mark Braden and Dominique Fields. The Tigers did not handle the pressure in this quarter and managed only three buckets for 6 points while the Celtics poured in 21 points. Eventually O'Hara built up a 20 point lead when they reached 65-45. The Tigers attempted an unlikely comeback in the fourth quarter and were helped by three more three-point shots. Bryce Roher shot five treys for the Tigers while both Andrew Byrd and Evan Schnicker had three. TJ White led the Celtic in scoring with 25 points. Dominique Fields had 16 and Mark Breden had 13. This was the final home game for seniors Trevor Krasowsky and Joe Pepple. Pepple scored 9 points on a three-point shot, a layup, and four free throws.