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COLUMBIA — The three-peat is complete. Once again, the Fair Grove girls basketball team is a state champion.
Fair Grove won its third consecutive Class 3 Missouri state championship with a 39-33 win over Principia in the MSHSAA Show-Me Showdown title game on Thursday evening at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.
The victory caps off the 13th three-peat in state history. The group has been led by a remarkable senior class that has won three basketball state championships and two volleyball championships. The class will be remembered as the greatest group to come through northeastern Greene County.
The championship is the second for Fair Grove head coach Gary Greene, who replaced current Nixa coach Jenny Talbert. Talbert led the Eagles to the school's first team state championship victory in 2023.
Years later, the Eagles continued to win, and they will go down as the most decorated group to wear Fair Grove purple.
The Eagles kept their distance from Principia until they didn't score for over four minutes in the fourth quarter. That drought allowed the Panthers to score six straight and bring the game within three with just under four minutes left in the game. Camdyn Hart ended the drought with an easy layup out of a timeout to go up by five.
Principia couldn't get a shot to fall at the other end, and the Eagles were able to milk about a minute-and-a-half off the clock before Emma Padgett was fouled with 1:24 remaining. She split her shots, the Eagles got another stop and Padgett was sent back to the line where she made both of her shots.
In the final seconds, Fair Grove was able to play keep-away and drain the clock before storming the court as state champions, once again.
After allowing just 27 points in last year's state championship win over El Dorado Springs, the Eagles continued to play that level of defense in this year's title game. Principia was held to 22.4% shooting.
Fair Grove's offense also never found consistency, but it didn't matter. The Eagles scored enough, led by Ashton Bell's 11 points.
Greene, who has been the head coach at Fair Grove for the last two seasons, didn't make life easy for his team this year. He presented them with a challenging schedule that put the Class 3 Eagles against those in the upper classes seemingly every other game.
Among the highlights of the season include the program's first-ever Pink and White Tournament championship, which it won by beating state-ranked Class 5 programs Marshfield and Hillcrest and Class 1 state qualifier Chadwick. The Eagles also beat notable teams like Logan-Rogersville, West Plains, Strafford and Skyline before dominating their way through the postseason, which included a win over El Dorado Springs in the playoffs for the third straight year.
The team emerged from the championship with a 27-4 record. Brook Daniels, a 5-foot-6 point guard who has served as the heart of the program, averaged 11.2 points and a team-high 5.5 boards per game. Bell led the team in scoring at 14.3 points per outing.
Fair Grove High School had never won a team state championship of any kind until the Class of 2025 female athletes led the Eagles to a basketball title in 2023. It was followed by a volleyball title later that year and repeat success for both programs in 2024.
The Eagles' championship win gives the decorated class five titles, cementing it as a legendary group to come out of the region. Eight seniors, led by Daniels, Bell, Abbey Green and Camdyn Hart, created a legacy that will be difficult to replicate.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Fair Grove girls basketball tops Principia for Missouri Class 3 championship
Continue reading...
Fair Grove won its third consecutive Class 3 Missouri state championship with a 39-33 win over Principia in the MSHSAA Show-Me Showdown title game on Thursday evening at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.
The victory caps off the 13th three-peat in state history. The group has been led by a remarkable senior class that has won three basketball state championships and two volleyball championships. The class will be remembered as the greatest group to come through northeastern Greene County.
The championship is the second for Fair Grove head coach Gary Greene, who replaced current Nixa coach Jenny Talbert. Talbert led the Eagles to the school's first team state championship victory in 2023.
Years later, the Eagles continued to win, and they will go down as the most decorated group to wear Fair Grove purple.
Fair Grove girls basketball holds Principia off in the fourth quarter
The Eagles kept their distance from Principia until they didn't score for over four minutes in the fourth quarter. That drought allowed the Panthers to score six straight and bring the game within three with just under four minutes left in the game. Camdyn Hart ended the drought with an easy layup out of a timeout to go up by five.
Principia couldn't get a shot to fall at the other end, and the Eagles were able to milk about a minute-and-a-half off the clock before Emma Padgett was fouled with 1:24 remaining. She split her shots, the Eagles got another stop and Padgett was sent back to the line where she made both of her shots.
In the final seconds, Fair Grove was able to play keep-away and drain the clock before storming the court as state champions, once again.
After allowing just 27 points in last year's state championship win over El Dorado Springs, the Eagles continued to play that level of defense in this year's title game. Principia was held to 22.4% shooting.
Fair Grove's offense also never found consistency, but it didn't matter. The Eagles scored enough, led by Ashton Bell's 11 points.
Fair Grove emerges from challenging season on top once again
Greene, who has been the head coach at Fair Grove for the last two seasons, didn't make life easy for his team this year. He presented them with a challenging schedule that put the Class 3 Eagles against those in the upper classes seemingly every other game.
Among the highlights of the season include the program's first-ever Pink and White Tournament championship, which it won by beating state-ranked Class 5 programs Marshfield and Hillcrest and Class 1 state qualifier Chadwick. The Eagles also beat notable teams like Logan-Rogersville, West Plains, Strafford and Skyline before dominating their way through the postseason, which included a win over El Dorado Springs in the playoffs for the third straight year.
The team emerged from the championship with a 27-4 record. Brook Daniels, a 5-foot-6 point guard who has served as the heart of the program, averaged 11.2 points and a team-high 5.5 boards per game. Bell led the team in scoring at 14.3 points per outing.
Fair Grove senior class will go down as the best in school history
Fair Grove High School had never won a team state championship of any kind until the Class of 2025 female athletes led the Eagles to a basketball title in 2023. It was followed by a volleyball title later that year and repeat success for both programs in 2024.
The Eagles' championship win gives the decorated class five titles, cementing it as a legendary group to come out of the region. Eight seniors, led by Daniels, Bell, Abbey Green and Camdyn Hart, created a legacy that will be difficult to replicate.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Fair Grove girls basketball tops Principia for Missouri Class 3 championship
Continue reading...
