Schools

Villa Falls To Jeff City In Slowdown Showdown

Holding the ball was a brilliant strategy. Jays win in the end and reach championship game today.

The strategy is so simple. When you think your opponent has distinct advantages, you, as a coach make up your mind to hold the ball and shrink the game clock.

Villa Duchesne's smart-minded strategic thinker Jane Ellen Kuenzle did that exact thing in the semifinals of the 32 annual Queen of Heart’s pre-Valentines Day tournament.

“We did that mostly out of respect for Jeff City. They are much bigger and stronger and we knew we couldn’t run up and down the floor with them for 32 minutes and expect to win.”

Kuenzle concocted that strategy moments after beating Metro in the opening round of the tournament Thursday.

The strategy almost looked better than the Americans at the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

What Villa did was throw the Lady Jays off course, forcing them to take a lot of hurry up shots in the first 16 minutes. Eventually, with some hot shooting in the second half by Sadie Theroff, the Jays made their way into the finals with a slim 31-27 win.

The Jays, 2011 champs face Kirkwood in the title game today at 3:30 p.m. At 2 p.m., Villa faces Cape Girardeau Notre Dame for third place.

“That’s the oldest strategy in the book. Princeton used to use that all the time, playing bigger and better opponents. That’s why they introduced the shot clock to college ball,” said a still very satisfied Kuenzle.

“I was very proud of our girls. They really executed the plan well. We have nothing to hang our heads about.

Theroff came alive in the second half, dropping in a game-high 16 points, 13 coming after the break. She connected on 5 three pointers in the last half of the game.

“Sadie did a really good job for us. I challenged her and the other girls to come out and play better in the second half,” said their coach Shane Meyer.

“My hats off to Villa. They gave us a very good game. That’s not our kind of game at all. That’s usually our halftime score,” he said.

At half, Villa had a 13-6 lead, and holding the ball for long spells was paying in spades. In the second half, the Saints fell behind by as many as nine so holding the ball wasn’t nearly as effective.

“It felt good having that halftime lead,” said senior leader Kaitleya Frost. Even after trailing, Frost and her teammates were convinced they could win. “That was our best chance,” she said.

Villa fell to 12-5. Jeff City, playing people like Nixa and Webster Groves improved to 11-7.


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