John Burroughs tops Marshfield in Missouri Class 5 girls basketball semifinals

Gonzaga-bound guard Allie Turner scores game-high 18 points

COLUMBIA, MISSOURI – Allie Turner and the John Burroughs girls basketball team will get to play for another state championship.

The Bombers, who won the Missouri Class 4 title two years ago, defeated Marshfield 44-30 in the Class 5 semifinals on Wednesday morning at Mizzou Arena to clinch a spot in Thursday's championship game.

"If you would have told me as a freshman that we would have been here like right now, I probably wouldn't believe you," Turner said. "So I think that it's just really exciting how we've helped build this program to where we are now, and it's kind of like expected. For us, in the beginning of the season, our goal was to make state. As freshmen we were like, oh, let's win districts. That was our goal. It's really cool how far we've come."

The Bombers (28-3) will now play Lutheran St. Charles (26-4) in the Class 5 title game at 4 p.m. Thursday. Lutheran St. Charles, led by standout junior Jordan Speiser, is the reigning Class 5 champion. 

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Turner, a 5-foot-8 senior guard who is headed to Gonzaga, led all scorers with 18 points, including knocking down eight of 11 free throw attempts. Monet Witherspoon, a senior guard, added 10 points. 

Senior guard Abby McBride led Marshfield (26-5) with 12 points, while freshman forward Peyton Ward had 11 points and seven rebounds.

John Burroughs led 10-5 after one quarter but only 17-15 at halftime. The Bombers pulled away in the second half by outscoring the Bluejays 12-5 in the third quarter and 15-10 in the fourth. 

Marshfield missed all five of its field goal attempts in the third quarter and made just two of 11 shot attempts in the second half.

John Burroughs celebrates its Missouri Class 5 girls basketball semifinal win / Photo by Nate Latsch, SBLive Sports

Missouri Class 5 girls basketball semifinal: John Burroughs - Marshfield

Photos by Nate Latsch

Photo by Nate Latsch, SBLive Sports

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- Nate Latsch | latsch@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveMiz