You Win as a Team, You Lose as a Team
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By Sara Smith
The headline quote, in its various versions, can be attributed to many professional coaches and athletes; baseball coach Eddie Murray, football coach Mike Shanahan, basketball player and commentator Kenny Smith, and likely many more.
No matter who says it, it rings true. This statement hit home for the Rams and Lady Rams this past week.
Both teams were coming off of a couple of grueling weeks, with the North Shelby Tournament being condensed into four days, then three games in three days the following week. These kids have been playing basketball at a high level without much rest and recuperation time.
Let’s start with the Lady Rams.
After an overtime finish on Friday, January 26th at Knox Co., the Lady Rams took the weekend off the returned to practice on Monday. The La Plata Invitational Tournament started for the Lady Rams on Tuesday, January 30th. The Lady Rams were seeded fourth and were slated to go up against the #5 North Shelby Lady Raiders, an all too familiar opponent. The Lady Rams had faced the Lady Raiders two times already this season, and won both times. However, it is extremely difficult to beat an opponent three times in one season.
The Lady Rams entered into the tournament with a 12-6 record, while the Lady Raiders were 11-7. These two teams have been running neck-and-neck all season and the Lady Raiders were looking to even the score.
The Lady Rams were up at halftime 22-19, but lost their lead halfway through the third quarter and never regained it. The final score showed an 8-point deficit for the Lady Rams, 46-54.
The Lady Rams average a shooting percentage of 40% from the field in their winning efforts. This game versus North Shelby was no different as the Lady Rams made 41% of their attempts. However, on the flipside, the Lady Raiders made 50% of their shots. The killer really was the fouls, the Lady Rams had 17 fouls to the Lady Raiders 14, but that is not the part that cost them. The Lady Raiders shot 22 free throws and made 17 of them (77%). That is a lot of free throws, while the Lady Rams made six of eight free throws. That 11-point deficit more than accounts for the margin of loss. The Lady Rams outscored their opponent with 2-point shots by nearly triple (28 points versus 10 points) but the Lady Raiders were hitting their 3s and made up the difference (28 points versus 12 points).
With the loss, the Lady Rams were now fighting for a spot in the consolation game on Saturday. To make it there they would have to go through another familiar foe, the 5-12 Putnam County Lady Midgets. Even though these teams are not in the same conference anymore, they are usually in the same district. This game marks their 31st matchup since 2008, with the Lady Rams winning 22 of them. The last time the Lady Rams lost to the Lady Midgets was in 2018. These teams had already met once this season, early in January, with the Lady Rams scoring an easy 53- 37 victory.
This game would be much closer. The final score came down to three lousy points, 56-59 in favor of the Lady Midgets. The stats reflect the tight nature of the game, but once again fouls seemed to be the deciding factor. This time the Lady Rams committed 14 fouls to 8 for the Lady Midgets. That alone would not be an issue, except the Lady Midgets shot 16 free throws, making 11 (69%), while the Lady Rams would only shoot six free throws, making three (50%).
The Lady Raiders would go on to defeat the Scotland County Lady Tigers, 57-46 in the 3rd Place game on Saturday, February 3rd. The Putnam County Lady Midgets would fall to the Green City Lady Gophers, 39-62 in the consolation game that same day.
The Lady Rams ended their week on Wednesday, and on the bright side, they only had to play two games, ending up with a little time to gather strength and come back together as a team before they have to go back out on the court Tuesday, February 6th at Harrisburg.
The Rams would not have that luxury, playing four games during the week.
The boy’s bracket at the La Plata Tournament was loaded with talented teams that were seeded as follows: #1-Green City (14- 2), #2- Putnam County (14- 2), #3- Schuyler (15-2), #4- Canton (13-5), #5- Atlanta (12-4), #6 Scotland (6-8), #7- North Shelby (7-11), and #8- La Plata (5-11).
The bracket pitted the #3 Rams versus the #6 Scotland County Tigers on Monday, January 30. These teams have already played each other twice this season, with the Rams winning both contests. As mentioned before, it is difficult to beat a team three times in one season, but the Rams were able to do it. The Tigers seem to narrow the gap with each successive game, in the first game at the end of November the Tigers lost to the Rams by nine points (64-56). In the second match, just a week prior, the Tigers lost by eight points (65-58). This time the Rams would eke out a four point victory in a high-scoring game, 75-71.
Of note for this game versus the Tigers, senior Kale Windy was not able to play due to illness. That left it to the rest of the team to pick up the slack, and they certainly did. The Rams made an incredible 72% of their shots from the field. However, they did struggle with fouls and turnovers, primarily due to the Tiger press. As a team the Rams were able to overcome these obstacles and get the victory.
On to the semi-finals versus the Rams’ nemesis, the #2 Putnam County Midgets on Wednesday, January 31. The Midgets beat out the #7 North Shelby Raiders to advance in the bracket. The Midgets and the Rams had faced each other twice already (a recurring theme it would seem) with the Midgets coming away with the “W” both times, the Rams’ only two losses of the season. Both were tightly contested games. The first in early December, when the Midgets had a 5-point victory in OT, 54-59. Again, in early January they edged out the Rams by two points, 55-57. However, it cannot be overstated how difficult it is to beat a team three times in one season. The task proved to be too much for the Midgets and the Rams celebrated an 8-point victory, 54-46.
The Rams stayed close in the first half, but went into halftime with a 3-point deficit, 25-28. The Rams are proving to be a second half team this season, as they outscored the Midgets in both the third and the fourth quarters. More importantly, the Rams launched a good defensive effort in the second half and limited the Midgets to just 18 points, 9 points in each quarter. Another great team victory as the Rams proved to themselves that they could beat the Midgets.
It is worth noting that these teams, (Schuyler, Scotland, and Putnam) seem likely to meet again in the district tournament coming later this month, February 19th – 24th. It will be interesting to see how these teams, that have already battled so many times this season, match up in the tournament that really counts.
With the victory the Rams were headed to the ‘ship for the third time this season. The game was held on Friday, February 2nd and this time they would be facing the basketball juggernaut, the Green City Gophers. The Gophers are a Class 1 school, but they have built a basketball program off of the backs of some very talented players. Entering the game, the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association (MBCA) ranked the Gophers #5 out of all of the Class 1 teams in the state. The Rams had to have known that they were facing a tough opponent.
True to form, the Gophers dictated the pace of the game. The
Gophers have two very strong guards, but the Rams have better forwards. Unfortunately for the Rams, the Gophers defense prevented the Rams from taking advantage of that mismatch. The Rams are no slouch when it comes to defense either, but it seemed like the Gophers made their contested shots, where the Rams did not. The Rams shot 46% from the field, which is pretty good, but the Gophers shot 56%. The Rams also gave the ball away too many times, 18 times in fact. With an offense like the Gophers have you just can’t give them the ball that many times, they were able to convert 17 points just from Ram turnovers.
That 17 points turned out to be the margin in the game, as Green City got the decisive victory over Schuyler, 58-75.
It is also worth mentioning that two of the Rams’ players got into foul trouble early. As stated earlier, those fouls can often result in points on the board for the other team, but in this case the most damaging issue was that the early foul trouble limited their playing time and caused them to play a tentative defense.
Both of the teams the Rams defeated to get to the championship game lost their final games of the tournament on Friday. Scotland County beat the North Shelby Raiders (43-38) to advance to the consolation game versus the Atlanta Hornets. The narrow 4-point margin in that game fell to the Hornets, 57-53. The Putnam County Midgets went up against the Canton Tigers in the 3rd place game. The Canton Tigers came away with the 80-67 win over the Midgets. Canton also looks to be a tough opponent in the coming district tournament.
The championship loss marked the first loss for the Rams in nearly a month, as their last defeat was on January 4th.
The now 17-3 Rams did not have time to stop and lick their wounds. The very next day they loaded up the bus and headed south to Harrisburg to face the New Franklin Bulldogs in the Mid-Missouri Invitational, an annual match-up of top Missouri teams. This year marks the first invitation to this vaunted event for the Schuyler Rams. Prior to this Saturday’s contest the New Franklin Bulldogs had a record of 18-3, and were ranked #7 by the MBCA. Even so, the numbers showed that the pairing would be fairly even. The Rams averaged 65.4 points/ game, the Bulldogs 69.9. The Rams’ average points allowed/game was 44.6, the Bulldogs 45.8.
This game is where the overload of games and the defeat the night before showed up. As a whole the Rams did not play well, making only 42% of their shots from the field, but the Bulldogs only shot 41%. Once again foul issues reared its ugly head. The Rams committed 19 fouls versus six fouls (that were called anyway) for the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs made 11 of 16 free throws, while the Rams only made two of six. The Bulldogs matched the Rasms’ whole game free throw total in just the first quarter. Not a good precedent to set.
Despite the sluggish performance for the Rams, they were in this game from beginning to end. The Bulldogs held the Rams to just 7 points in both the second and the fourth quarters. At the half, the Bulldogs had a 7-point lead, 27-34. The Bulldogs were able to maintain and build that lead in the second half. Although the Rams did tie the game toward the end of the third quarter, in the last half of the fourth quarter the Bulldogs went on a run and pulled away again. The final score was 45-54 in favor of the Bulldogs. In defeat, Coach Prewitt commented that he was “Proud of the effort that these guys showed.”
Although this article focuses on the team aspect of play, and therefore highlights team stats, there were a few stand-out performances for the Rams.
vs. Scotland Tigers- Senior Connor Smith stepped up to fill the scoring gap due to Kale Windy’s illness, scoring 21 points.
vs. Putnam Midgets- Senior Kale Windy returned and scored 16 points, while Smith was 4 assists away from a triple-double, 10 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists
vs. Green City- Sophomore Cohan Meade played like a man on fire, tying the team’s scoring leader for the night with 15.
vs. New Franklin- Smith stepped into the fray again and led the scoring with five 3-pointers, 15 points.
Gage Brownell and Elliott Sevits are proving to be consistently strong rebounders for the Rams. Brownell is averaging seven rebounds per game while Sevits averages five.
Overall, the team point distribution has been spread out among the seven players with the most playing time, each player picking up their game when another teammate was struggling. .
After two losses in so many days, the Rams’ record fell to 17-4. Despite this, the Rams were able to jump into the Top 10 on the MBCA Class 2 list, coming in at #9. Now it is time for the Rams to prove that they belong there.
The upcoming schedule for the Rams and Lady Rams is loaded with Lewis & Clark Conference opponents, and will likely determine the final standings in the conference. So far, both teams are undefeated in conference play.
Tues., Feb. 6 @ Harrisburg (conf.)
Wed., Feb. 7 vs. Fayette (conf.) Senior Night & the first home game since Jan. 4
Fri., Feb. 9 vs. Salisbury (conf.) Courtwarming
Tues., Feb. 13 @ Westran (conf.)
Fri. Feb. 16 @ Atlanta
