March 4, 2015
Mitchell leads Sikeston to memorable district semifinal win over Notre Dame
sports@standard-democrat.com SIKESTON -- Notre Dame was on the cusp of giving Sikeston yet another district tournament send-off. Allie Ziegler was willing her team with all she could muster by giving underdog Notre Dame a two-point lead with three minutes remaining...
By Chris Pobst - Standard Democrat
sports@standard-democrat.com
SIKESTON -- Notre Dame was on the cusp of giving Sikeston yet another district tournament send-off.
Allie Ziegler was willing her team with all she could muster by giving underdog Notre Dame a two-point lead with three minutes remaining.
So with the Class 4, District 1 semifinal tipping in the balance, that's when Sikeston's Tyeshia Mitchell began to think about -- Dexter.
The motivation to face the defending district champions certainly worked for Mitchell who exploded for 15 of Sikeston's 19 fourth-quarter points in Sikeston's 58-49 win over Notre Dame Tuesday at the Sikeston Field House.
"I felt like it was a very intense game," Mitchell said while admitting Dexter was in her thoughts during the fourth quarter. "We had to either step up or go home. I was just prepping the team, getting them ready, so we can be prepared for Dexter Friday."
Mitchell saved the best offensive performance of her career until Sikeston needed it the most. She finished with a game-high 23 points and scored 11 in the last 3:44 of the game.
It also helped erase some bad memories of Notre Dame, who ended Sikeston's season in this district semifinal game three times in the last four seasons.
"She just became a different person -- a different player," Sikeston head coach Matt Schonhoff said about Mitchell in the fourth quarter. "She got steals, she dove on the floor, she got a couple 'and-1's', layups, free throws, she was the difference-maker in the last four minutes."
Mitchell's takeover vaulted Sikeston to its third win over Notre Dame this season and into the district championship game for just the second time in school history. It's also Sikeston's first-ever 20-win season.
"(Notre Dame) played so well (Monday) and it's so hard no matter who you're playing to beat a team three times in one year," Schonhoff said, referring to Notre Dame's 68-24 win over Perryville during the first round. "We knew they were going to be hungry. You could see it in themselves that they were not going to quit."
Third-seeded Notre Dame (8-17) was led by Ziegler's 13 points while nearly guiding her team to the upset.
The 6-0 sophomore scored seven-straight points during a Notre Dame stretch that gave them a two-point lead -- twice -- late in the fourth quarter.
"Allie Ziegler, God lover her," Notre Dame head coach Renee Peters said. "All year I'm like, 'Catch and shoot. It's a simple game.' At the beginning of the year it was difficult for us. We didn't have an inside game. We're still working to get a consistent inside game, but Allie showed a lot of heart and muscle tonight and she came through."
Enter Mitchell, who seized every ounce of momentum Ziegler had provided for her team by doing everything possible for Sikeston.
Ziegler and Mitchell matched baskets which left Notre Dame with a 49-47 lead and three minutes to go. Mitchell snared an offensive rebound and was sent to the free throw line on the shot where she tied the game at 49-all at the 2:47 mark.15 seconds later, Mitchell came up with a steal -- the first of three-straight -- and gave Sikeston a 51-49 lead.
"I was in a zone," Mitchell said with a big smile.
Mitchell stopped Notre Dame's next two possessions by forcing turnovers but Sikeston ended up giving them right back with turnovers of their own. Notre Dame had 10 turnovers in the fourth quarter. Sikeston had six.
"We knew going into this game that they've beaten us twice this year, we're playing on their home court and we're not expected to win," Peters said. "All year I've been saying it -- we're young, we're young and we're still young and once the experience matches ability, it could be a lot of fun. Tonight, the fact that we came out in the second half down 12 and we gained the lead, I thought that showed a lot of heart and character on behalf of my girls. But the last two minutes our inexperience did show and unfortunately that's part of this game."
Notre Dame's Morgan Duschell, who finished with 10 points, missed a 3-pointer that bounced out of bounds and gave Sikeston the ball with just under a minute remaining. Mitchell made Notre Dame's last three empty possessions pay with a bucket and the foul converting the free throw for a 54-49 advantage with 51 ticks left.
Tyra Bonner picked off Notre Dame's next pass which led to a foul on Mitchell. The sophomore sank both with 28 seconds remaining for a 56-49 lead. Notre Dame threw away their next possession to give way to another Sikeston basket and Notre Dame's first semifinal loss since 2008.
"This year (Notre Dame) got better and better throughout the year and we knew it was going to happen. We were just lucky enough to get the win," Schonhoff said about facing Notre Dame for the fourth time in five years during the district semifinal round. "Renee Peters runs such a great program. We look up to them in terms of where we want to be, wins, district appearances in championship games and what we need our program to be. I think that we're getting there but we have a long way to go.
"I have so much respect for Renee and so much respect for their program. They are a class act and play so hard."
Though not one of her players have varsity experience in a district atmosphere like Tuesday provided, Peter's young bunch seemed unfazed by the big stage.
Down by 12 to start the second half, Notre Dame outscored Sikeston by nine to pull within three by the end of the third quarter. Sophomore Sam Brennan, who also finished with 10 points, scored eight-straight including two 3-pointers to close the gap to two, 37-35, with just over a minute remaining.
Notre Dame limited a Sikeston team that suddenly went cold to two field goals and just five total points while trimming Sikeston's lead to 39-37 at the end of the third quarter.
"First of all, we didn't get out on shooters and they got hot," Schonhoff said. "We didn't close out very well. We had silly turnovers and we couldn't make easy stuff... We didn't end them when we needed to end them."
Sikeston (20-5) knew they were in a tougher fight than their last two meetings with Notre Dame right from the start. Sikeston scored the game's first six points but Notre Dame answered with a 12-2 run. A 3-pointer by Duschell gave Notre Dame a 12-8 lead -- their largest of the game.
Sikeston finished the frame with a 9-0 run to go ahead 17-12 and they extended that lead to 34-22 at halftime setting up for Notre Dame's comeback in the third and Mitchell's heroics in the fourth.
"Sikeston's an incredibly good team and Matt's done a wonderful job," Peters said. "At the beginning of the season I believed I called this. He's got a chance to take this."
'This', as Peters mentioned, would be a district championship. Something that Sikeston has had the opportunity to grab just once before in 2002.
That chance will go through Dexter, who had already punched their ticket to the championship game earlier Tuesday night and defeated Sikeston less than a week ago on Sikeston's home floor 55-50.
Dexter has been in the district finals the last eight seasons winning six of the last seven. Both Dexter and Notre Dame have battled in each championship game since 2008 until now.
"(Dexter's) good," Schonhoff said. "Hopefully we show up and all 13 of us can do everything we need to do to win."
The district championship game is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday but with winter weather expected to sweep across the area today the game could be moved to Saturday. A decision will be made at a later time.
Notre Dame 12 10 14 13 -- 49
Sikeston 17 17 5 19 -- 58
NOTRE DAME (49) -- Sam Brennan 10, Morgan Duschell 10, Allie Ziegler 13, Hayli Chapman 12, Lexi Welter 4. FG 17, FT 7-12, F 20. (3-pointers: Brennan 2, Duschell 3, Chapman 3. Fouled out: none.)
SIKESTON (58) -- Kiera Steward 3, Dominique Roach 6, Tyra Bonner 7, Zaytiana Williams 10, Erica Peet 7, Miranda Harrison 2, Tyeshia Mitchell 23. FG 22, FT 12-21, F 12. (3-pointers: Steward 1, Bonner 1. Fouled out: none.)
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