Hazelwood West Girls Basketball Season Comes To End With District Championship Loss To Incarnate Word

CREVE COEUR – The girls varsity basketball team saw its season end in the Class 5 District 5 championship game on Saturday at De Smet High School, after a 72-40 loss to defending state champion Incarnate Word Academy.

Incarnate Word junior Taylor Manuel, a player rated the nation’s fourth best center and 36 th best player overall in the 2012 class by ESPNHoopGurlz.com, had 25 points and 10 rebounds to led the Red Knights to another sensational playoff victory.

“The thing about Taylor is that she does so many different things so well,” Incarnate Word head coach Dan Rolfes said. “She scores, she rebounds, she runs the floor and probably the best thing about her game is her passing.

"And when she's working with (senior Brianna Puni) inside, it creates a pretty tough inside matchup.”

Puni finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, as Incarnate simply dominated the painted area inside and refused to let Hazelwood West get any close shots.

“They just clogged the lane so well,” Hazelwood West head coach Jim Fleming said. “They’re Incarnate Word for a reason, and I think they showed it today.”

The key stretch in Saturday’s contest came midway through the third quarter, when Incarnate Word went scored 15 straight points with no answer from Hazelwood West, sparked mostly by Lady Wildcat missed shots, and a quick and efficient Red Knight fastbreak.

“When they came out in that second half, they got a lot of easy looks,” Fleming said. “They’re post players started coming through.

"Our post players started playing tentative, worried about foul trouble," he said. "That’s why games are four quarters. The better team wins.”

In the first half though, the argument could be made that Hazelwood West was the better team. The Lady Wildcats trailed 31-24 at the half, but seemed poised for an upset with inspired play from seniors Shakaunna Oliver-Futrell and Chanel Gwynn-Williams.

Oliver-Futrell, the Lady Wildcats leading scorer, had seven points at halftime and seemed capable of scoring whenever she wanted. While Gwynn-Williams played the Saint Louis University recruit Manuel as tough as any opponent had played her all season.

“We stood up to them,” Fleming said. “It was like a championship bout in that first half. It was a really, really nice run.

"But when we came out in the second half, (Incarnate Word) got their confidence going.”

Oliver-Futrell finished with eight points in the game, while junior Mia Williams had a team-high nine points, and sophomore Alexis Robinson had eight points as well, for the Lady Wildcats, who finished the year with a 15-10 record.

Fleming said the 2010-11 season, which included one stretch of 10 wins in 12 games, and another of six losses in seven games, was quite a roller-coaster ride.

“I always use the barometer of if you have less than 10 losses, then that’s a very solid year,” Fleming said. “It’s one of those things where if we had not had that bad run, we would’ve had what you call a great year.

"I think we’re a better team than 15-10.”

Incarnate Word (23-4) will play Suburban South Conference and District 6 champion, Kirkwood High (20-8), in the state sectionals, Wednesday, March 2, at Meramec Community College. Tipoff that evening is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.