Aurora Lady Houn’s win third straight district title

The Aurora Lady Houn’s took their third district title Saturday after knocking off Cassville in an unusual defensive masterpiece 34-21.
In the opening round Monday night, the Lady Mt’neers and Lady Cubs were both in action. Mt. Vernon and Monett both took care of business in their respective games as the Lady Mt’neers handled East Newton 46-39. Monett did the same by dismantling the Seneca Lady Indians, 68-44, leaving the top four teams from the Big 8 in the semifinals Thursday.

Aurora vs. Mt. Vernon
Mt. Vernon’s opening round victory over East Newton set up another showdown in the semifinal round. It was all Aurora early on as the Lady Houn’s jumped out to a 10-0 run after a three from senior Alyssa Burch. The Houn’s weren’t done yet as the defense of Aurora carved up the Lady Mt’neers for eight turnovers in the opening quarter. Aurora extended the lead to 20-0 before the first quarter buzzer went off.
Two minutes later, the Lady Mt’neers got their first point thanks to a free throw from Emmie Schubert. After another three from Cole, Mt. Vernon went on a bit of a run thanks to a basket from Aubree Rogerson and a three from Mary Fields to cut the deficit to 25-8. But that would be the closest the game would get. Burch finished the Aurora half holding a 27-8 lead.
The physicality of the game picked up in the third quarter and the scoring decreased. Aurora was able to go on a run in the second half of the quarter after a pair of hard fouls from Lady Mt’neer Cheyenne Bieber forced Mt. Vernons leading scorer for the season went to the bench with three fouls but was scoreless in the game. Aurora’s Burch capped off the third quarter with her third three of the game to extend the lead 40-16. With the sizable lead, Aurora was able to cruise to convincing 49-23 victory over their bitter rival.
The Lady Houns were led by Kylee Cole with 14 points that included a three ball in three of the four quarters. Alyssa Burch added in 13 adding three more threes. Kylee Phelps and Jaelyn Ernest each had five followed by four from Naudia Davis. Kena Hall and Jaysa Earnest had three and Brooke Blevins had two.
The Lady Mt’neers were led by Emmie Schubert with eight points followed by Aubree Rogerson added in seven. Mary Fields and Isabel Cloud both hit a three and Teagyn Huver finished with two points.
Mt. Vernon ends their season 11-14 finishing with their second best season since the Final Four year in 2021. As the season ends, so does the careers of seven Lady Mt’neers. The tumultuous four years of Aubree Rogerson, Cheyenne Bieber, Madison Rinker, Audrey Bittle, Teagyn Huver, Isabel Cloud, and Taylor Gaddy ended with three seasons with double digits wins, after their sophomore year was ended at Christmas due to lack of numbers. Bieber ends her career within 50 points of joining the 1,000 point club despite missing almost a full season.

Monett vs. Cassville
In the second game of the night, we had more Lawrence County flair as, much like in the last game, arch rivals met on the court as the Lady Cubs met the Cassville Wildcats. The two teams were grinding on the defensive end. Cassville took the early lead 6-2 but a basket from double-double machine Halle Schoen tied the game up at 6. Cassville ended the opening quarter with a 6-1 run and went into the break leading 13-8.
The Lady Cats pulled away in the third quarter as an electric scoring period seemed like they couldn’t miss as Taylor Kennedy scored 10 of her game-high 24 points in the period. Turnovers and tough defense from the Lady Cats held Monett to just five points and the rout was on, 61-26 after three quarters. The turbo clock clicked on in the fourth but a furious rally from Monett proved that the Lady Cubs had fight left in them. Halle Schoen came alive in the fourth for nine points and brought Monett back within 15 at one point, but Cassville ultimately held on for the 68-44 victory.
Monett was led by Schoen who finished her career with another double-double collecting 20 points. Meredith Merriman had seven followed by Kilee Wilson and Abby Inman with five. Fenli Wilson and Kalli Hohensee each finished with two.
The loss ends the Lady Cubs season at 14-14 for the year, but also ends the career of three beloved seniors. Vayla Smith, Abby Inman and Halle Schoen were part of three double digit win seasons including a 2024 season that ended up as the best since an 18-6 season in 2011.

Aurora vs. Cassville
The Aurora Lady Houn’s met the Cassville Lady Cats Saturday night in Monett for a date with a district title and sectional bout with Logan-Rogersville this week.
The typically sharpshooting offense of the Lady Houn’s was quiet early as the scoring was kept at a minimum for the first two and a half minutes. Cassville’s Taylor Kennedy got the first basket to fall with 5:30 left in the quarter. Defense remained to be a crucial piece of the first quarter. Four Lady Houn’s scored in the first period but two late free throws from Jaysa Earnest put the Lady Houn’s in front 9-8 after one quarter.
Aurora continued to struggle to put the ball in the hoop as they started the second quarter 0-8 from the field. Alyssa Burch hit a corner three with 4:45 left in the period for their basket to take a 12-9 lead. A steal and score from Earnest was the lone basket scored until the final minute of the half when she and Cassville traded threes as the Lady Houn’s took a 17-12 lead into the halftime break.
Aurora continued the low scoring affair as Aurora held the ball for the entire third quarter. Kena Hall held the ball at the half court logo all eight minutes before a turnover as time expired ended the quarter at the same place we started it. 17-12 after a chorus of boos.
“Well Cassville had really packed the paint after we struggled shooting the ball in the first half,” Aurora coach Jason Cole said of the strategy. “We wanted to draw them out but they never did. I know people aren’t going to like it but it worked for us.”
Cassville opened the fourth with a basket before a quick 5-0 run from Aurora pushed the lead to 22-14. The floodgates opened as a pair of threes from Kylee Cole and a fast-break bucket from Kena Hall pushed the lead to 31-17 and that was about all she wrote as Aurora coasted to a 40-21 victory for their third straight district title.
Aurora was led in scoring by Kylee Cole with 10 points, followed by nine from Kena Hall and Alyssa Burch. Jaelyn Ernest finished with six just ahead of her sister Jaysa with three. Wrapping up scoring was Brooke Blevins with two and Naudia Davis with one.
Aurora improves to 23-5 for the season. They returned to the court Tuesday in the sectional round against the team they knocked in the sectional round a year ago, the Lady Wildcats of Logan-Rogersville.