Williams' Hot Shooting Leads Hazelwood West To District Semifinal Victory Over Pattonville

CREVE COEUR— girls varsity basketball player Mia Williams is the quintessential three-point specialist.

The 5’5 junior has other duties for the Lady Wildcats. It’s important that Williams play sound defense when she’s on the court, and she also helps with setting up the offense when West has the ball.

But Williams’ primary job for the Lady Wildcats is to shoot three-pointers, and to make them.

And Thursday night, in the biggest game of the season, a Class 5 District 5 semifinal showdown with rival Pattonville High, Williams was at her best, drilling home a career-high six three-pointers for a game-high 18 points to lead Hazelwood West to a 61-47 win over the Lady Pirates.

“She was on fire,” West head coach Jim Fleming said. “She’s a classic streaky shooter.

"When she gets going, she’s unbelievable," he said. "She’ll hit everything from back there.”

Williams didn’t hit everything Thursday night, but she was pretty doggone close, knocking down six-of-eight three-point attempts, and taking advantage of a sagging Pattonville defense, which was trying to clog the lane to prevent West guard, and 17 points a game, scorer Shakaunna Oliver-Futrell from penetrating and scoring.

“Mia was wide open all night,” Fleming said. “And she didn’t hesitate.

"She knew those shots were going in.”

Williams first three-point make tied the game in the second quarter, after Pattonville had taken a brief three point lead, following three straight three-pointers by juniors Kailey Utley and Mikala McGhee and senior Ellicia Clark.

The teams traded buckets for the final two minutes of the first half, and West lead 27-25 at the break.

The second half though, began with a bang, as Williams drained three straight three-pointers of her own, in the first three minutes that, along with a Futrell-Oliver layup gave the Lady Wildcats a 38-25 lead.

From that point on, Hazelwood West was on cruise control, never leading by less than eight points, and building its lead to as many 18 points, following a final three from Williams, with just over a minute left, that put an exclamation point on the Lady Wildcats’ lopsided victory.

“They played well tonight and we didn’t,” Pattonville head coach Craig Gregory said. “They shot it well, and we didn’t.

"We had chances, we just couldn’t knock them down.”

Other than its three-point flurry midway through the second quarter, Pattonville’s best moment came just before the half, when Utley picked up a loose ball on a fastbreak, drove down the lane and faked out West’s Oliver-Futrell, for a bucket and three-point play that gave the Lady Pirates their biggest lead at 23-20.

Unfortunately for Pattonville, that was as good as it got, as the Lady Wildcats dominated the entire second half.

Oliver-Futrell also had 18 points for Hazelwood West (15-9), while teammates Chanel Gwynn-Williams (8 points, 17 rebounds, 5 blocked shots) and Alexis Robinson (9 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks) led the Lady Wildcat defensive charge.

“That might have been (Gwynn-Williams’) best game of the year,” Fleming said. “They both did a nice job really.

"(Gwynn-Williams) dominated inside all night, and Alexis gave us good energy off the bench.”

As much fun as Thursday’s win was for Hazelwood West, the challenge will get exponentially tougher come Saturday’s district championship. The second-seeded Lady Wildcats will be taking on top-seed, and defending state champion Incarnate Word Academy (22-4), for the right to advance to next week’s state sectionals.

“We’re going to have to shoot it well, to make it a game,” Fleming said. “They’re a confident team, and they should be. They’re really, really good.”

Saturday could be quite a day for the Hazelwood West athletics program. Not only are the varsity girls playing in the district championship game against defending state champ IWA, the West varsity boys will also play for the district title, against perennial powerhouse and host school De Smet.

If both teams were to win, it would mark the first time in school history that both basketball programs won districts in the same year.

The varsity girls game will tip-off at 1 p.m., and will be followed by the varsity boys game at 4 p.m.