The road to the Final Four of the Missouri State High School Activities Association State Tournament will be completed this weekend with state quarterfinal games in Classes 4 and 5. Those games will be held on Saturday at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (Class 5) and Hazelwood Central (Class 4).
Here is a look at some of the highlights from last weekend’s district playoffs.
*Vashon High’s winning streak reached 57 games when the Wolverines defeated Beaumont 71-48 in the Class 5, District 5 championship game at Gateway Tech. The Wolverines were led by brothers Johnny and Bobby Hill, who combined for 33 points in the lopsided victory.
*McCluer North won its first district title in 15 years with a 59-44 victory over host Hazelwood Central in the Class 5, District 7 boys title game. It was also the first district title for coach Randy Reed. The Stars were led by senior Marquez Hopson’s 14 points. The Stars rallied from a 1-4 start to share the Suburban North title with Normandy and win the district crown.
*Jennings High junior Sanijay Watts scored 38 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Warriors to an 80-61 victory over Soldan in the Class 4, District 5 championship game at Jennings. The Jennings’ girls made it a clean sweep as the Warriors defeated Rosati-Kain 56-48 for the district title.
*Sophomore Shakara Jones of Howell Central led her team to their first district championship in the school’s history. Jones had 19 points and nine rebounds in Howell Central’s 52-37 victory over Parkway West in the Class 5, District 6 girls title game. Jones is the daughter of former University of Missouri standout Ron Jones.
*Suburban North girls teams Hazelwood West and Normandy took home district titles last weekend. West won the Class 5, District 7 title as the No. 4 seed. The Wildcats defeated No. 2 Hazelwood Central in the semifinals and No. 1 McCluer in the championship game. The Wildcats lost top player Erica Smith to a knee injury in early January, but they rallied around five underclassmen to win the title as a No. 4 seed.
Normandy won the Class 5, District 5 title at Gateway Tech. The Vikings defeated Beaumont 63-28 in the championship game as senior Sheri Jones scored 18 points. Jones has averaged 11 points and 11 rebounds since returning from a knee injury that cost her the first half of the season.
*Festus won the Class 4, District 3 title behind the play of brothers Eric and Ryan Lawrence. Eric scored 29 points and Ryan added 23 in the Tigers’ 75-60 victory over Hillsboro in the championship game.
On the Illinois Side:
*Edwardsville High advanced to the IHSA Class AA Girls State Tournament for the second consecutive year. The Tigers defeated Belleville East 44-41 in the Supersectionals on Monday night at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Sophomore guard Kara Fransden led the Tigers with 16 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer with 17 seconds left. Edwardsville is led by 5’11” senior Tamara McCaskill, who is averaging 17 points a game. Freshman guard Erin Stepherson had a big second half for the Tigers.
*Congrats to former Saint Louis University basketball standout Quitman Dillard, who is the head basketball coach at Westinghouse High in Chicago. Dillard led “The House” to its second consecutive Chicago Public League championship over the weekend. Westinghouse defeated Simeon for the title.
*Belleville Althoff finished third in last week’s IHSA Class A Girls’ State Championships in Normal. Junior guard Theresa Lisch averaged more than 20 points a game in the tournament, despite playing the last two games with a severely sprained ankle.
