Wednesday Postseason Basketball: Blue Eye Splits State Games, Hollister Upends Ava

Wednesday's Postseason Basketball Action saw Blue Eye go 1 for 2 in Class 2 State Games while Hollister pulled off an upset in the Class 4 District.

Blue Eye
In Carthage, the anticipated match-up of State Ranked Girls Basketball teams turned into a blowout, as the Lady Bulldogs hot shooting and strong defense carried them to a 56-30 win over Miller in their Class 2 Sectional Match-up. Blue Eye had won a close game over Miller during the regular season but Wednesday's rematch saw the Lady Bulldogs get the fast start roll on to the win behind the 18 points of Avery Arnold. Blue Eye will play Dora in the State Quarterfinals Saturday afternoon in Republic. 

Meanwhile in the Boys Game, both teams shot well from behind the are early, but College Heights out of Joplin continued to shoot well while the Bulldogs went cold and led them to a 54-43 win and ending the season for Blue Eye, which finished with a 23-4 record. 

Hollister
A pattern has developed in the games between the Tigers and Ava as one team wins the regular season match-up, the other the postseason game. Last year, it was Hollister in the regular season, Ava in postseason. This year the opposite as the Tigers, after a loss to Ava in December, grab a 55-54 win in the Class 4 District semi-finals in Mountain Grove. The Bears got off to a quick start and led most of the game but some timely defensive  stops and a late game run brought the Tigers back into it. Hollister had a one point lead in the final 15 seconds though a missed free throw game Ava a final chance to pull out the win, but the defense disrupted the play not allowing the Bears to get off a clean shot and held on to the win despite a game high 30 points from Ava senior Andrew Dalton. Garrett Snyder lead the Tigers with 24 points. Hollister will play Willow Springs in the Boys District Finals Friday night at 7:30 in Mountain Grove. 

Hollister's Friday match-up and Blue Eye's Saturday game can both be heard on MOARK Sports Dot Com.