Lady Rams Go Back-2-Back! District Champs Once Again
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By Sara Smith
Your Schuyler County Lady Rams repeated as District Champs. According to Laci Tallman this girls varsity team is the first to win back-to-back district championships AND they are the first to win twice during their four years of high school. An awesome accomplishment. This is how they got there.
The Lady Rams finished the regular season on a high note, defeating Atlanta on the Hornet’s home court on Friday, February 16th by a 19-point margin, 75-56. The Lady Rams had snapped a five-game losing streak the previous game versus Westran, and were riding a two-game win streak. They were on a roll and playing their best basketball of the season.
Quarterfinals
With only the weekend to rest, the #2 Lady Rams (14-11) played the #7 Scotland Co. Lady Tigers (4-20) in the District Quarterfinals on Monday, February 19th. These teams had already met two times during the season. Both were victories for the Lady Rams, with increasing point margins for each game.
They met during the Tri-Rivers Classic back on November 30th, of 2023. That early in the season things can be a bit dicey, and the Lady Rams had trouble finding their identity early on. The first meeting versus the Lady Tigers was just their third game of a very long season. The 54-41 win for the Lady Rams also had the distinction of being their first “W” of the season. A 9-point margin is a solid win, especially in November.
These teams met again in January, on the 24th, at Scotland County during regular season conference play. The Lady Rams were able to extend their margin that game, coming away with a 21-point command of the game, 47-26.
It is difficult to beat a team three times in one season, but the Lady Rams did it in dominant fashion. Even extending their margin to 28 points this time, 66-38.
Sidney Aeschliman led the team in scoring, rebounds, and assists with 18 points, 10 rebounds and one assist away from a triple-double at nine. Raina Small had 13 points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Claudia Dixon put up 12 points for the Lady Rams and pulled down eight rebounds, she also had three steals. Taylor Roberts scored 10 points, she had three rebounds, and four assists. Kelsey Tallman had nine points on the night, plus four rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Florence Lusher and Hannah Farris both came in off the bench and added to the scoreboard with two points apiece. Lusher also had five rebounds.
Semi-finals
The now 15-11 Lady Rams squared off versus the #3 Marceline Lady Tigers (10-12) on Wednesday, February 21st. The Lady Tigers had defeated #6 Knox County Lady Eagles (7-16) by the score of 48-37 to advance to the semi-finals.
These teams had also already battled during regular season conference play, but only once, before the winter break on December 14th, 2023. It was a hard-fought victory for Schuyler, 53-49. The article written about this game said “Although it was not a pretty win, the Lady Rams made the plays they needed to come out with a ‘W.’”
These teams match-up well. They have a similar style of play, focusing on being patient, making good shot selections, and working the ball through the offense.
Just like in the previous match-up this season, Marceline got out to an early lead, shooting a string of 3-pointers to go up in the first quarter, 7-13. The second quarter was more even at 16-15, but the Lady Tigers still held onto a five-point lead at halftime, 23-28.
The tide started to turn in the third quarter, much like in their previous meeting. With 1:41 remaining in the third quarter Taylor Roberts drained a “3” that tied the game 35 all. The momentum shifted firmly in favor of the Lady Rams when Sidney Aeschliman drove in for a lay-up with 22 seconds remaining, putting them up by one. On the heels of that score, Roberts stole the ball and got an assist to Aeschliman to put the Lady Rams up by three. The third quarter ended with a score of 39-36.
The fourth quarter would continue to be a battle, but the Lady Rams never lost the lead. The Lady Tigers came within one a couple of times, but the Lady Rams held on, each time answering with a score of their own to keep the lead. With time ticking down, and fighting tired legs, Marceline started to foul. Never a winning strategy versus the shooters on the Schuyler team. Once again the Lady Rams delivered on their free throws. Going 20 for 28 (71%) on the night, but most importantly 12 out of 15 (80%) in the fourth quarter alone. In fact, Raina Small scored 10 of her team-leading 24 points from free throws in the fourth quarter, talk about coming in clutch. The Lady Rams secured the 6-point victory with a final score of 55-49.
The Lady Rams were consistent throughout the game. With the exception of the first quarter, where they only scored seven points, they scored 16 points in each quarter. Even when down on the scoreboard, they continued to play their game, run their offense, and play within themselves. The Lady Rams are good outside shooters, but adjusted to what the defense had given them, instead of crazy numbers in 3-pointers, the Lady Rams drove to the basket and had 22 points in the paint, outscoring the Lady Tigers by 14 points in the key.
In addition to her 24 points, Small also had seven rebounds, three assists, and one steal. Aeschliman had 10 points, five rebounds, four assists, and one steal. Roberts had eight points, three rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Claudia Dixon had six points, an astounding 14 rebounds, three assists, and one steal. Hannah Farris came in to provide three points on the scoreboard. Kelsey Tallman added two points, two rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Florence Lusher contributed two points, one rebound, and two steals to the team win.
A Bit of History
Last season, the Lady Rams won the district title for the first time since 1999. With at record of 21-5 at the end of the regular season the 2022-23 Lady Rams were the #1 seed in the district tournament. That meant they only had to go through two teams to win the championship. First, they defeated the 15-11 Princeton Lady Tigers 81-42 before going on to get the championship versus the 20-7 Canton Lady Tigers by a score of 47-42. Neither of those teams are in the same district as Schuyler this year. The 22-23 Lady Rams were the favorites to win districts last year. They had three stand-out seniors, Kaitlyn Hatfield, Jacie Morris, and Ashlyn Laws. Hatfield went on to play softball and track at Columbia College. Morris went to North Central Missouri College where is is now a part of the Lady Pirates basketball team, who are ranked #7 in the country. All of that is to say, with the loss of these players, not much was expected of the Lady Rams this season. They were expected to be solid and get 15 wins, but not many outside of their own locker room expected them to win the district title again this year.
Finals
The stage was set for an upset as the #1 La Plata Lady Bulldogs (22-4) came to town to face the #2 Lady Rams (now 16-11) on Friday, February 23rd. These teams had played each other twice already this season. First, they met in a home game right after winter break, on January 2nd. It was a tight game, tied at halftime, but La Plata pulled away in the third quarter to secure a nine-point win, 45-54. They met again later that same month, on the 20th, in the 3rd Place game at the North Shelby Tournament. Schuyler finished out of the medals as they fell to La Plata 58-69.
In both prior contests, Raina Small, Sidney Aeschliman, and Claudia Dixon had done some serious damage as they led the Lady Rams on the scoreboard. Maybe because they had come out with wins in the previous matches, the La Plata Lady Bulldogs didn’t seem to make any adjustments to their defense to account for these playmakers. On the other side of the court, the Lady Rams did make some adjustments to their defense by running a triangle-and-two, to try and shut down some of their playmakers. It proved to be an effective strategy for the Lady Rams.
This time, the Lady Rams jumped out to an early 6-point lead, finishing the first quarter with a score of 18-12. They continued to roll in the second quarter, outscoring the Lady Bulldogs by ten points, 19-9. At one point in the second quarter, the Lady Rams had two times as many points as the Lady Bulldogs with a score of 32-16. At halftime the Lady Rams held a 16-point lead with a score of 37-21.
The Lady Bulldogs came alive in the second half, outscoring the Lady Rams in both the third and fourth quarters. They didn’t know it yet, but they had already lost. This is the kind of game the Lady Rams are built to win. With their preferred pace of game and their excellent shooting ability, it seemed unlikely that they would lose with that big of a lead.
True to form, the Lady Rams continued to play their game, and made the shots they needed to make to put the game away. The Lady Bulldogs pulled to within two points late in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Rams managed to go up again mainly due to some second chance points that were secured via some key offensive rebounds by Claudia Dixon. When the time expired the Lady Rams upset the Lady Bulldogs 58-52.
Small led the charge for the Lady Rams with 22 points and six rebounds. Dixon had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Aeschliman had 11 points, six rebounds, one steal, and led the team in assists with seven. Kelsey Tallman had four points and four assists. Naomi Newland provided a spark off the bench with four points and one rebound. Hannah Farris came in to provide two points, three rebounds, and one assist. Taylor Roberts was disruptive on defense with three deflections and one steal. Florence Lusher also contributed two rebounds.
Claudia Dixon (pictured here versus La Plata) plays a crucial role in the paint for the Lady Rams. She scored 33 points during the tournament and led the team with nearly as many rebounds, 32 (12 offensive, 20 defensive). Photo by Nicole Windy As a team, the defense had 25 rebounds, five defelctions, and two steals. Although they didn’t create a lot of turnovers, the defense was successful because they made it difficult and time-consuming for the Lady Bulldogs to score. It was a complete team effort on both sides of the ball.
The path to the district title included an up-and-down season, a dominating win in the quaterfinals, a come-from-behind victory in the semi-finals, and an upset in championship game. With this win the Lady Rams make Schuyler County history, the first team to ever go back to back. The “2024” on the district championship banner will forever mean something to those that witnessed it.
