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Purists of the game would have loved the McPherson-Olathe South girls semi-final game at MAC Tournament. Fans of the modern game would have fallen asleep.
But it doesn't really matter what they think if it gets a win. Olathe South slowed the game down to a halt and held McPherson to just two points in the third quarter for a 43-35 win.
Olathe South (11-0) will play Manhattan (9-2) in the title game, Saturday at 7:15 in McPherson.
Despite 17 points from senor Katelyn Loecker, the Lady Bullpups shot just 26.7 percent, even worse from three-point range at 21.1.
And McPherson had no answer for Kylee Kopatich. The sophomore scored 26 points, surprising only because of the slow pace of the game.
McPherson led 18-16 at halftime, that should give you an idea of the pace. Once in the second half, Olathe South broke off 11 points and even though they only had two points, it wasn't from stifling defense - McPherson didn't hit shots.
Hailey Ruder stopped the bleeding and Loecker tried to inspire a rally, especially when back to back three-pointers fell to make it interesting but it wasn't enough. Abby Pedersen had six points and Ruder finished with five points, same as Hannah Willems. Only one other player scored for McPherson.
McPherson will play Andale Saturday in the third place game at the MAC Tournament, 5:30 p.m.
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Andale head coach Mark Kerschen tried his best to get his team in position. But all he could do was watch Manhattan go on two separate double digit runs to take their first lead of the game and never let it go.
Manhattan topped Andale 49-41 in Friday's other semifinal game. It was Andale's first loss of the season.
Andale was led by Brittany Meyer with 17 points but not much help from her supporting cast.
Andale had a 19-10 lead in the second quarter before Manhattan closed out the first half on a 12-2 run to take a 22-21 lead at the break. It was the closest the Indians would come to advancing to the tournament finals.
With five minutes left in the game, Andale got as close as three points after a Meyer three pointer but Manhattan popped in back to back buckets to erase hope.
Andale gets McPherson Saturday in the third place game at the MAC Tournament, 5:30 p.m.