Fair Grove beats Principia, wins 3rd straight MSHSAA Class 3 girls basketball championship: live updates recap

Fair Grove hits late free throws to pull away from Principia in final 2 minutes in 39-33 win

The Fair Grove Lady Eagles took on the Hillcrest Lady Hornets in the White Division championship game at the O'Reilly Family Event Center during the Pink and White Tournament on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. / Nathan Papes/Springfield News-Leader / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

HOW TO WATCH FAIR GROVE (27-4) vs. PRINCIPIA (26-5)

What: MSHSAA Class 3 championship game

When: 5 p.m., March 13

Where: Mizzou Arena, Columbia

How to watch the live stream online: You can watch it live on MSHSAA.tv 

Follow live game stats here

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PREGAME PREVIEW

Fair Grove looks to continue the dominance of Southwest Missouri in Class 3 basketball.

Since the 2013-14 season, the 417 has won all but two titles in titles, a good chunk thanks to Strafford winning five in a row from 2016-20.

Fair Grove has won the last two titles — with two different coaches — and will look to make it three in a row tonight. Dating back to the 2002-03 season, Southwest Missouri has had a team in the finals 18 of those 22 years. 

This matchup on paper will be a good one with the No. 1-ranked Lady Eagles against No. 2-ranked Principia.

Last year, Principia made the Class 2 finals and moved up due to the championship factor MSHSAA uses with private schools.

The Lady Panthers have knocked off No. 3 Centralia, No. 4 South Shelby and No. 8 Portageville to reach the finals. In the semifinal win against Portageville, Nya Walker had 14 and Dasia Scott had 12. Guard Loganne Love had 8 points and 5 assists.

Principia has won seven in a row — the last loss coming to Class 6 champion Incarnate Word on Feb. 15. The St. Louis school has also lost to Quincy, Ill., Link Academy, Jackson and Lift for Life Academy, the Class 4 champions last year.

Fair Grove beat No. 10 Lone Jack, 55-22, in the semifinals on Wednesday.

Brooke Daniels and Abbey Green both had 14, while Ashton Bell added 12.

The Lady Eagles have won 13 in a row, which included a win over El Dorado Springs in the playoffs. That win was a rematch of the state title game last year.

Three of Fair Grove’s four losses have come against Class 6 schools.

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Fair Grove vs. Principia, MSHSAA Class 3 state final; scoring, updates

Brooke Daniels, Camdyn Hart, Abbey Green, Emma Padgett and Ashton Bell starting for Fair Grove

Loganne Love, Jayla Hawkins, Nyja Williams, Nya Walker and Dasia Scott is the starting 5 for Principia

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FIRST QUARTER

Williams hit a 3 for Principia to get the scoring started

Bell with back-to-back buckets for Fair Grove. 4-3. 3:57 left in 1st

Lady Eagles on an 8-0 run now. 8-3 with 3:28 left in 1st

Love scores for Principia to make it 8-7 with 2 minutes left.

Emma Padgett hits 1 of 2 free throw for Fair Grove with 37 seconds left in the 1st. Lady Eagles up 11-7

End of 1st: Fair Grove 11, Principia 7

Fair Grove hit 5 of 12 shots; Principia was 3 for 16

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SECOND QUARTER

Bell with a bucket at 6:46. Fair Grove now up 13-7 -- and it's a 5-0 run dating back to last quarter

Turnover turns into points for Fair Grove. Now 15-7 after a score by Skouby. 6:33 left

Love grabs an offensive rebound and draws a foul. On the inbound play, she banks it in. 15-10 now. That is the first basket for the Lady Panthers at the 4:18 mark.

Nearly 6 minutes without a point for Principia

Love draws her 3rd foul. She is out for now. Fouls might be an issue later for the Lady Panthers

Pair of FT from Nyja Williams and the Lady Panthers pull within 15-12 with 3:15

Dasia Scott picks up her 3rd foul for the Lady Panthers. She's one of the key players in this game for Principia

Scott goes to the bench and Brooke Daniels hits both free throws to make it 17-12. 2:57 to go

Williams draws her 2nd foul and she is coming off the floor too. The three starters on the bench have all 12 for Principia

Walker hits a FT to pull Principa within 19-13 with 1:31 to go

Bell with a big 3 for the Lady Eagles respond and extend what was a 2-possession lead. 1:21 in 2nd. It's now 22-13

Jayla Hawkins hits a 3 for the Lady Panthers. Now 22-16 with a little more than a minute left

Walker with a block on the final play of the 2nd.

End of 2nd: Fair Grove 23, Principia 16

Williams with a team-high 5 for Principia. Love has four. Bell, an Evangel signee, leads all scorers with 10 for Fair Grove

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THIRD QUARTER

Dasia Scott back in the game and scores right away for the Lady Panthers. Back to a possession game 6:22 left

Hart with a bucket for the Lady Eagles with just less than 6 minutes left. 26-18. Fair Grove closed to making it a 10-point game again

Bell with her third foul for Fair Grove.

Just like last time, Principia gets a big bucket. Love scores to make it 27-21 with 3:47 left in 3rd

Fair Grove has missed the last 6 shots. Scott with a FT to help Principia cut deficit to 27-22.

Hart draws a foul. She hits both Fair Grove is now up 29-22

Skouby with offensive rebound and putback and just like that it's 31-22. A 5-point lead now up to 9. Timeout by Principia with 1:58 left

Skouby is a beach volleyball signee for Missouri State

End of 3: Fair Grove 31, Principia 24

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FOURTH QUARTER

Green scores early for Fair Grove and its a 9-point lead again for the Lady Eagles. 6:48 left in game

Walker with a big 3 for Principia and we are back to a 6-point game again. Lady Panthers hanging around but can't seem to ever get it down to a 1-possession game.

Williams with a layup for Principia. Makes it 33-30 and just like mentioned earlier, Principia had been battling. This was the first time they stopped Fair Grove from answering. 3:44 left. Fair Grove calls a timeout

Scott draws her 4th for Principia with 3:18 left

Principia had ball with a chance to tie but misses a 3. Fair Grove rebounds it.

Timeout with 2:44 left following foul on Principia

Fair Grove scores on an inbound play from Hart. 35-33

Green with a steal on the other end for Fair Grove. 2 minutes left

Dasia Scott fouls out with 1:24 left. Standout finishes with 6 points. Averaged a double-double this year for the Lady Panthers

Padgett hits a FT 36-30 with 1:24 left

Padgett with rebound on other end and draws a foul. Williams fouls out with 1:07 left. Padgett to the line

She hits both to make it 38-30

Hawkins with a layup and draws a foul, splitting defenders. 38-32. She makes FT with 58 seconds left, 38-33

Fair Grove just ran nearly 30 seconds off clock passing. Principia final fouls. 16.7 left

Final: Fair Grove 39, Principia 33

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POSTGAME RECAP

For the third year in a row, Fair Grove remains the top team in Class 3.

The No. 1-ranked Lady Eagles rolled to another state title on Thursday night, beating Principia, 39-33. 

The game was close late but Fair Grove found a way to pull away to secure win No. 14 in a row to close the season.

Fair Grove led for 28 of the 32 minutes — the Lady Eagles only trailed in the first quarter. After an 8-0 run following the Lady Panthers’ first bucket, Fair Grove never trailed again.

The Lady Eagles led by seven going into the third and fourth quarters. The lead went to nine before a 3-pointer from Nya Walker cut it to six. Then, Principia got a stop and Nyja Williams scored to cut the deficit to 33-30.

The Lady Panthers got another stop and had the ball with a chance to tie but missed a 3-pointer.

Fair Grove got the rebound and went down the court and Emma Padgett drew a foul. On the inbound play, Camdyn Hart scored. 

Principia missed a shot and Abbey Green got a steal for Fair Grove. 

Padgett hit 3 of 4 free throws over the next 17 seconds to turn the 3-point game into a 38-30 lead for the Lady Eagles.

Principia cut the deficit down to five but Fair Grove passed the ball enough to drain 30 seconds off the clock in the final minute. 

Ashton Bell had a game-high 11 points for Fair Grove. Hart had eight, while Padgett had six — all on free throws. She and Brooke Daniels had 10 rebounds each. 

Fair Grove was 1-for-10 on 3s and 12 for 41 on shots from the field. 

Loganne Love paced the Lady Panthers with 9 points, while Njya Williams chipped in with 8. 

Dasia Scott, who averaged 18.1 points and 12 rebounds per game heading into the finals, was held in check by the Lady Eagles.

She had two early fouls in the first quarter and played only 9 points in the first half. She finished with 6 points, half of those in the third quarter, and had 3 rebounds. 

The Lady Panthers struggled shooting, hitting 11 of 48 from the field. They were 4 for 21 on layups and 4 for 12 on 3-pointers.