Jefferson City halts Lady ’Cats in semifinals

Jefferson City owned a prior win over Union from Jan. 14 in the Union Tournament championship game.

“The best part about it is we don’t have to say goodbye to any seniors,” Union Head Coach Brian Karvinen said. “It hurts right now, but I told the girls in the locker room, we went 22-5, undefeated conference championship, Borgia tournament championship — I think in a couple of weeks, we’ll look back and be proud of ourselves. It just doesn’t feel like that right now.”

Scoring was at a premium in the first period as Jefferson City ended with a 9-4 lead.

The Lady Jays remained ahead at halftime, 22-15, and at the end of the third quarter, 35-29.

Union scratched back into the game to tie things at 36-36 with 5:08 to play in the fourth quarter.

However, after that point, it was all Jefferson City. The Lady Jays scored the next 14 points without an answer. 

“We definitely didn’t have our A-game on defense,” Karvinen said. “I thought we did a pretty darn good job on defense. We just missed a lot of lay-ups and free throws.”

Kelsey Brake and Sophia Helling paced Union with 13 points apiece.

Lucy Koenigsfeld posted five points.

Fallyn Blankenship put through three points.

Mya Minor and Ava Sykes both scored two.

Hannah Linthacum, a Mizzou basketball signee, scored 21 for Jefferson City, including back-to-back baskets to start Jefferson City’s fourth-quarter run.

Reagan Nilges contributed 15 points.

Other scorers included Lyssa Sportsman (seven points), Emmarie Graham (five) and Lyric Hearn (two).

Jefferson City advances to play the district’s No. 1 seed, Helias (21-6) at Blue Jay Gym Tuesday at 6 p.m.