MCHS girls fall to Skyline in sectionals

By Theo Tate
Posted 3/9/23

The Skyline Tigers have a rich, winning tradition, finishing in the top four at the state tournament 15 times, including six state titles.

The Montgomery County Wildcats found out why on Feb. …

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MCHS girls fall to Skyline in sectionals

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The Skyline Tigers have a rich, winning tradition, finishing in the top four at the state tournament 15 times, including six state titles.

The Montgomery County Wildcats found out why on Feb. 28, when the two teams squared off in a Class 3 sectional game at Jefferson City High School.

From the opening tipoff, the Tigers were too much to handle for the Wildcats. They stormed to a 7-0 lead en route to a 53-36 win to advance to the Elite Eight.

“That’s a really good basketball team,” MCHS coach Joe Basinger said. “That’s a good program. They have been to a lot of Final Fours since 2001. They have a lot of state championships.”

The Wildcats finished their season at 22-7. They were eliminated in sectional play for the second year in a row. After the game, MCHS players said thank you to the numerous fans who attended the game.

“I’m just really proud of the effort of this group and how far we’ve come and what we have done,” Basinger said.

The Wildcats have a winning tradition of their own. They finished with their sixth winning season and won 20 or more games for the third straight year. Ten years ago, the Wildcats lost a school-record 23 games.

During Basinger’s seven-year tenure as coach, the Wildcats won 120 games with four Eastern Missouri Conference titles and two district championships. Basinger said when he was hired in 2016, his mission was to help turn the Wildcats into a winning program.

“I can remember sitting in the interview with (activities director Adam) Falloon and (principal Chris) Redmon, telling them my goals as a coach,” Basinger said. “I was able to be on a team that got to the Final Four. I would like to coach a team that will get to the Final Four and that’s my goal. The dreams are there. In that first year, I was like, ‘Holy moly, what I gotten myself into?’ But it’s been an awesome ride and it’s been really cool to see what the girls have accomplished in seven years.”

Skyline, located an hour north of Springfield, has won 20 or more games in each of the four years. The Urbana school won state titles in 1996, 1997, 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2017. Two years ago, the Tigers finished second.

Kevin Cheek, who is in his 24th year as Skyline coach, said his team’s success has caught plenty of attention from the young girls sitting in the bleachers.

“They watch these girls play and they want to be the next group,” Cheek said. “Then, that group wants to be the next group. We’re lucky that we have a lot of stability.”

Last year, the Tigers were eliminated in the district finals. This year, they got out of districts by cruising past Stover 60-38 in the District 8 finals on Feb. 28.

Cheek said he gave his team a message before its game against MCHS.

“I told our kids in the locker room that it’s playoff basketball,” the Skyline coach said. “So once you get out of districts, if you can keep your mind where everybody else is losing theirs, you’re going to be OK.”

Skyline led 16-6 after the first quarter and extended that lead to 30-16 at halftime. The Wildcats didn’t get any closer than 12 points the rest of the game.

Basinger said his team had a hard time handling Skyline’s press. The Tigers forced nine turnovers in the first half.

“It’s something that we worked on,” Basinger said. “We knew that we were going to do it. We knew we had to handle it. At times, we did. When we did, we got good things out of it. But in the times we didn’t, they capitalize on it. That’s what good teams do.”

Junior Malia Rodgers scored 13 points and junior Maddy Queathem added 12 to lead the Wildcats, who beat Hermann 50-30 in the District 7 finals on Feb. 25 to earn a trip to Jefferson City.

Skyline ended the high school basketball careers of seniors Carissa Doyle, Bailey Fischer, Carson Flake and Maddie Wisdom. Flake scored all seven of her points in the third quarter.

Ashlen Garrett scored 21 points and Grace Edge added 14 to lead the Tigers.

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