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It was a historic night in El Dorado Springs as we were in the house for a matchup in the Ozark Highlands conference. In the spirit of transparency, I will admit that I did miss most of the first half because of going to the wrong gym……that’s the downside of visiting a new gym for the first time.
ELDO Coach Beau Swopes was not pleased with the defense of the Lady Bulldogs early on as Buffalo’s Bella Young was able to get a pair of second chance buckets to fall. Then it was all ELDO. Gracie Mead got a trio of buckets and a free throw to fall to give her 7 in the opening quarter. Junior Macie Mays hit a three and got a pair of free throws to fall to give ELDO a 23-7 lead after one.
The second quarter consisted of more suffocating defense from the Lady Bulldogs only allowed ten points in the quarter. The offense of ELDO was electric once again on that side of the ball. Mays got another three to go and ELDO’s other star, Drury commit, Reese Schaaf got five points to go. ELDO used their two stars and sophomore Tenlie Steward’s six points to extend their lead to 45-17.
The third quarter was all the Macie Mays show. She hit a pair of threes right out of half to give her 16 points for the game less than two minutes into the second half. She was not done as she hit another three from the wing off a nice kickout pass from Schaaf to give her five for the day. Reese Schaaf then found her younger sister Neely for the team’s 8th deep ball for the day. Mays hit two more threes in the final minute of the third quarter to give her a school record 7 threes for the day. Tough defense on the other end put this game out of question as they only allowed 6 points in the quarter as the Lady Bulldogs extends the lead 67-23.
The fourth quarter belonged to the turbo clock and the reserves as Buffalo was able to close the gap a little bit thanks to five points from Raegan Carter. However, her effort was not enough as the Lady Bulldogs take the matchup 70-33.
“We shot the ball really well. And that was a good thing because I feel we didn’t play our best game defensively. We had some bright spots but overall, not our best effort on that side. Offensively we shot well. We got stagnant at times, but I am proud of how they continued to fight and play.” Coach Swopes said following the game. He continued on Mays. “She shot the ball so well for us so far this year from the three-point line and she’s only a junior and will continue to get better. She puts in the time and effort to be great, and you know what you are going to get.”
“It was a little rocky there at the beginning defensively.” Senior Reese Schaaf said. She continued. “Our defense hasn’t reached our potential yet. My shooting wasn’t as sharp as I hoped for but as I worked inside, I worked to get our outside shooters like Macie good looks and get everyone involved.”
“Our defense wasn’t the best at the beginning. We have high expectations and continually try to improve off of that. I feel we can improve on what wasn’t our best defensive performance. We came out and fought hard and got the job done and we look to get better tomorrow.” Junior Macie Mays said. She continued on her shooting performance. “It’s pretty cool! (Setting the school record) I wasn’t really thinking about it. I was feeling good and was open, so I was just shooting.”
Bella Young led the Lady Bison with 11 points. Cheyann Kenady added 8. Raegan Carter was a beast on the inside getting 7 hard earned points. Sadie Abercrombie chipped in 4. Audrey Peterson had 2 and Marlee Andrews rounded up the scoring with 1.
Macie Mays led the Lady Bulldogs with an impressive 27 points. Reese Schaaf added 13. Gracie Moad had a big first quarter that led to 9. Tenlie Steward had 6. Abi Schmidt saw 5 go down. Tevi Gurlie had 4. And rounding out scoring, Neely Schaaf and Morgan Mitchell each got a three ball to go for 3 points.
Players of the Game
Raegan Carter 6’1 Buffalo 2023
Raegan was about the lone bright spot for the Lady Bison. She finished with 7 points, but her value lied on the defensive side. Carter filled the lane for the Lady Bison and forced the Lady Bulldogs to hit shots. She had several big blocks that made ELDO think twice before entering the lane. She was physical all night and wasn’t afraid of contact. She was a great rebounder and got several putbacks to go in the second half. She’s a smart player and helped orchestrate the offense from within.
Macie Mays 5’10 ELDO 2023
If there was a player of the night in all of SWMO, it was Miss Macie Mays. She is a dynamic scorer who didn’t only score from the three-point line. She also hit a pair of mid-range Js to round up his 27 points. She played the point most of the game and did a great job of taking care of the ball. Now that brings us to her shooting ability. It looked like she was shooting free throws from the three-point line, and it looked like the hoop was about 8 feet wide. She was hitting everything! She has a nice compact shot that she gets off quick which makes it tough for defenses to defend. Mays has shot the lights out of the gym so far this year and she will continue this year.
Reese Schaaf 5’11 ELDO 2022
Schaaf is the glue that holds this ELDO team together. She excels at shooting the ball most nights but tonight wasn’t one of those nights, however she proved her value in other places. She ran the offense like a well-oiled machine drawing defenders inside and finding her shooters for three. In fact, the majority of Mays threes were from kickouts from Schaaf. She sees the floor extremely well and finds the open space. Then she either fills it herself or leads teammates to the hole. She is physical and doesn’t shy away from contact and lastly, she has an extremely high IQ with a nose for the ball. She was great at anticipating passes and intercepting them. She was great at controlling her team and the future Drury Lady Panther shined as well.