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Sullivan Defeats Rock Bridge For Holiday Classic Championship

Sullivan survived a late charge from Rock Bridge Friday to win the sixth annual Peoples Bank Holiday Classic 46-39, their second tournament championship of the season and first at Sullivan since 2012.

Rock Bridge never could recover from a disastrous first-half shooting performance and whiffed on several chances to overtake the Lady Eagles while trailing by just a point.

Bria Jones scored 10 points and earned tournament MVP honors, while Katie Creek finished with a team-high 12. Mallory Shetley added 12 points. Creek and Shetley also were named to the all-tournament team.

Clare Shetley was held out of action Wednesday, but returned off the bench Friday to score nine points.

Sullivan (9-0) faced down their toughest opponent in what has been an early season gauntlet. Rock Bridge entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed, but are ranked No. 5 in Class 5. The Bruins' only loss before Friday came to Class 5 No. 1 Kirkwood, 61-54.

Lady Eagles head coach Jason Merkel said the team knew Rock Bridge would mount a comeback after Sullivan jumped them for a 22-13 lead at the half.

"We knew they would make a run. We told them at halftime, ‘we just got to sustain,’” Merkel said.

Rock Bridge shot just 3-for-25 from the field and 2-for-17 on 3-point attempts in the first half. The Bruins, who scored 75 points against Salem in the first round Monday, struggled to convert any looks before things turned around in the third quarter.

Led by Payton McAllister, Rock Bridge surged, getting as close as one before Sullivan cobbled together a late rally to fight the Bruins off. The Lady Eagles utilized a late-game defensive lineup Merkel has been relying on to get Sullivan through some strenuous crunch time minutes.

"It's been working really well for us," he said.

Sullivan came out Friday in a matchup zone, switching from a man-to-man since they had been using it so frequently. "We knew they were preparing for man defense," Merkel said. "In tournaments like this you have to be flexible with your defense. It made their shots difficult to take and we did a good job keeping the ball out of the lane"

Neither team got off to a strong start offensively. A 3-pointer by Creek with 1:54 left in the first quarter was the first field goal for either team. It gave Sullivan a 6-3 lead.

Creek, who scored 11 first half points, connected on another 3-pointer with 5:30 left to snap an 8-8 tie. With three minutes left, she knocked down her third trey, followed by one from Jones 40 seconds later to give Sullivan an 18-10 lead. McAllister answered for the Bruins, but Mallory Shetley scored the final four points of the half to put Sullivan up 22-13 at the break.

The run Merkel knew was coming from Rock Bridge finally happened midway through the third quarter. Down 28-17, McAllister scored the next 10 points for the Bruins. She hit a 3, stole the ball and streaked in for a layup, had a putback and knocked down another 3. Sullivan would stabilize and held a 36-32 lead after three quarters.

McAllister had a chance to tie the game with 5:10 left, but missed a free throw. Clare Shetley extended the lead to 38-35 on a drive from the elbow, but Eryn Pruett would answer for Rock Bridge, making it 38-37. The Bruins missed on their next three attempts that would have given them the lead. A turnover with 1:43 left, led to a partial three-point play by Clare Shetley. Rock Bridge stayed close with two free throws from McAllister with 59 seconds left. Sullivan kept the ball away in the final minute.

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