Gramp's Braggin Rights Missouri Girls class six ratings - 3/19/2022

 There were some remarkable events at the Girl's state tournament this weekend but it wasn't the outcome of any of the games that were more remarkable than the show of sportsmanship for one, young deserving lady.

Senior Jenna Clark, the third-leading scorer for Webster, was recently injured and could not play in the final games. Evidently, the Webster Groves coach and the Smithville coach talked prior to the game and Jenna was inserted for the opening tip.  The Webster center tipped the ball to Jenna in the frontcourt and, while the Smithville girls watched, Jenna dribbled with a limp to put up a seven-foot shot to score two points in her last high school game.  As Jenna limped back upcourt, the Webster players allowed the Smithville team to bring the ball up and score, unencumbered to tie the game at 2-2.  At that point, Jenna was replaced and given a hearty round of applause as she exited the court.  

It was truly a remarkable show of sports(wo)manship and it brought tears to my eyes.  Of course, I cry at McDonald's commercials that are slightly sappy but I still think this was remarkable and will be something Jenna will remember the rest of her life.  What a classy thing for Smithville coach Trevor Mosby and Webster coach Joshua Spuhl to do in a third-place championship game.

On the court this weekend, there were exciting but fairly predictable games.  Incarnate Word was just as dominating as my ratings have predicted all year long.  Kickapoo put up a good fight but lost by 17 but the battle for the class six championship never seemed in doubt for the IWA after leading 16-13 after one quarter.  The second-best team in the state, the Lady Indians who had lost by 20 to IWA early in the season, fought hard but just did not have the firepower to compete with the Red Knights.  5'6" senior guard Siniah Taylor scored 24, while seniors Nataly Potts, Brookes Coffey, and junior Violet McNese added 15, 14, and 11 respectively.  Kickapoo seniors, Bella Fontleroy had 25, and Brooke Turner had 12 for the Indians but didn't get much additional support.

Kickapoo finished 28-4 and the Red Knights finished 29-0 to add to their 68 consecutive game-winning streak and five straight championships.  We might not see a more dominating girls team soon but the Red Knights will reload with a talented group of juniors, sophomores, and frosh that will keep Incarnate Word Academy at or near the top in 2022-2023.

In the third-place class six game, Blue Springs South took care of business with upstart St. Joseph's Academy.

Nixa, a very strong and deserving squad that lost by three to Kickapoo in the district five championship, is my number three rated team in the final polls.

Here are the links to all of the final Missouri boys and girls basketball ratings:

Boys   All Boys Teams (by rank)  All Boys Teams (alphabetical)

Class One    Class Two    Class Three    Class Four    Class Five    Class Six

Girls   All Girls Teams (by rank)  All Girls Teams (alphabetical)

Class One    Class Two    Class Three    Class Four    Class Five    Class Six

Here are my class six girl's final ratings: