The Blue Eye Lady Bulldogs hope the third time is the charm in their quest to win a Class 2 Girls State Basketball Championship.
The Lady Bulldogs punched a ticket to the semi-finals for the third year in a row, with two of those coming on the court at Republic High School as this year, they upend Dora 67-42 to make their way to Springfield. The Lady Bulldogs finished third after losing in last year's state semi-final while they lost in the semi-finals two years ago but the third place game was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, Blue Eye will match-up against Wellington-Napoleon at Missouri State's JQH Arena which can heard on Perry Phillips Sports Dot Com through MOARK Sports Dot Com.
The complete recap of the game from Perry Phillips is below:
For the second consecutive game Blue Eye came out firing on all cylinders and for the second consecutive game they, pretty well, put their opponent away in the first quarter.
After taking care of Miller Wednesday Night, in Carthage. The Lady Bulldogs had a lot shorter trip this afternoon. Republic was the site and Dora was the opponent, as Blue Eye headed into their State Quarterfinal game looking to secure their third consecutive trip to the Show-Me Showdown.
The Lady Bulldogs, again, came out with hot shooting and a stingy defense that saw them forcing turnovers and bombing away from long range. Before the Lady Falcons had time to blink, Blue Eye jumped out to a 13-0 lead. That margin had climbed up to 26-9 by the end of the first quarter and 39-18 by the half.
Before going to the locker room, the Lady Bulldogs had scorched the nets for 9 long range bombs. (Avery Arnold 4, Gracyn Fairchild 3, and Riley Arnold 2.) About the only thing that Blue Eye struggled with all-afternoon was fouls. But, not even that, would detour the Lady Bulldogs on this day.
It was more of the same in the second half. By time the third quarter ended Blue Eye held a 59-29 lead and we started the fourth quarter with a running clock.
The outside shot was the point of emphasis for Blue Eye in the first half, but the second half saw Kyla Warren come to life inside the lane. She would score 16 of her team high 22 in the second half.
In the end, Blue Eye had secured a spot in the Final Four for the third year in a row. Dora was led by Cassidy Hambelton, who finished with a game high 27 points.
In addition to Warren, Avery Arnold (15), and Gracyn Fairchild (14) finished scoring in double figures.
Blue Eye will take on Wellington-Napolean at Noon in the State Semi-Finals. The game will take place at JQH Arena and can be heard on perryphillipssports.com through MOARK Sports Dot Com.
