Bland’s Lady Bears, Vienna’s Lady Eagles face off in Bland tournament title game

By Will Johnson, Sports Editor
Posted 10/20/21

Advancing their way through their respective halves of the bracket, Bland’s eighth-grade Bears and Vienna’s Lady Eagles met up Friday night at Bland Middle School for the championship …

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Bland’s Lady Bears, Vienna’s Lady Eagles face off in Bland tournament title game

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Advancing their way through their respective halves of the bracket, Bland’s eighth-grade Bears and Vienna’s Lady Eagles met up Friday night at Bland Middle School for the championship game of the Bland Girls Basketball Tournament.

Tied after one quarter and at halftime, Bland outscored Vienna 23-17 in the second half to post a 37-31 victory securing round one of Maries County middle school girls basketball bragging rights.

Playing the first quarter to a 7-7 tie, Saige Garner led the Lady Bears with four points while Vienna was led by Ella Hollis’ three points in the first six minutes.

Quarter-number two saw both teams score the same amount of points as the first period resulting in a 14-14 halftime tie.

Anastyn Lansford led Bland with three second-quarter points in turn giving her six markers to lead the Lady Bears in the first half.

Aubrey Schwartze scored five of Vienna’s seven second-quarter points helping her share team-high scoring honors in the first half with Hollis.

Opening the second half, Bland edged Vienna 9-8 giving them a 23-22 lead with six minutes of tournament basketball to be played.

Lansford paced the Lady Bears with five third-quarter points while Hollis and Schwartze each scored four points to account for Vienna’s third-quarter scoring.

Hollis (5) and Schwartze (4) combined to score all nine of Vienna’s fourth-quarter points helping them take home second-place hardware from Bland.

Lansford (7) and Garner (6) combined for 13 of Bland’s 14 fourth-quarter points helping them to keep the championship hardware and medals at home.

Scoring a game-high 18 points, Lansford led the Lady Bears and was joined in double figures by Garner with 10 points.

Ava Feeler added four points to go with three markers from Adalyn Walter and two points from Cylee Reed.

Hollis led the Lady Eagles with 14 points against Bland followed closely with 13 points from Schwartze.

Libby Wilkinson and Reese Snodgrass each added two points for Vienna against the Lady Bears.

Prior to the championship game, Vienna posted victories over Bland’s seventh-grade Lady Bears 39-10 before defeating Steelville 35-6 in the semifinals.

Bland’s eighth-grade Lady Bears opened their portion of the tournament last Tuesday with a 38-4 first-round victory over Salem before holding off Cuba 37-25 in the semifinals last Thursday.

Bland and Vienna will meet again Friday night at BMS for pink out night starting at 5 p.m.