The Van-Far girls were down heading into the fourth quarter.

Van-Far vs Moberly Photo Gallery

In previous years, this might have been too tough for the Lady Indians, but that wasn’t the case Friday at the Moberly Holiday Shootout at Moberly Area Community College. Van-Far defeated Moberly 44-37 after outscoring the Lady Spartans 14-4 following a 33-30 deficit heading into the final quarter.

Head coach Heather Minter said that Van-Far (4-5) is put into certain situations in practice like being down 10 points or up by two points, but Friday against Moberly (2-5) brought another scenario. Minter said the Lady Indians were still ready and those efforts secured their fourth win, which is the same total they had all last season, and their first win at the Moberly shootout in Minter’s six years at Van-Far. They were 0-3 in the previous three years at the event.

“They showed heart and big time grit not giving up,” Minter said. “I’ve gotten to the point where I'll look, but I just stopped looking at the clock. Just go to work and just play. We’re wanting to get that in them where they’re not scared of people.”

Minter said Van-Far is showing signs of not being scared of its opponents as frequently as its team full of sophomores gains more experience. The opponent shouldn’t matter, and Minter said the Lady Indians need to focus on playing basketball whether at an advantage or disadvantage.

“There are some times we’ll go 6-on-5. They’re like, ‘You can’t do that in a game.’ With some advantage, what do you want to do?” Minter said while describing how the coaches take extra steps to prepare the girls.

Elliott Utterback finished with a game-high 21 points and grabbed six rebounds. Most importantly, Utterback scored eight points in the fourth quarter and six of those points came from a pair of 3-pointers she hit to put the Lady Indians ahead. Prior to the fourth quarter, Utterback didn’t have a 3-pointer.

Utterback said she is proud of her teammates Mylee Keller and Carly Hunn for knocking down a couple of free throws each in the fourth quarter. Those two each had five points to follow 11 points and eight rebounds from Chloe Zumwalt. However, Utterback failed to mention her contributions in the fourth as she was looking to praise others instead.

“We didn’t get down on ourselves,” Utterback said. “Carly with the free throws and Mylee with the free throws helped us out a lot.”

Minter said Van-Far was short on players since Kenya Jones was on vacation during the winter break, and Khloe Wallace had to come out of the game early after taking a fall while going for a rebound. She shouted out the freshman Hunn in her first varsity start, pulling down four key rebounds. The Lady Indians did well to come together and win with a team effort.

Van-Far went minutes without a field goal after a transition jumper by Utterback early in the second quarter. The Lady Indians then pounded the ball inside with Zumwalt in the second quarter and Utterback in the third quarter. The offense was active the rest of the game.

“We put in a couple set plays, but we also know people are going to start taking Elliott away from us,” Minter said. “That’s why we’re preaching to the kids that other people have to learn to score.”

Utterback said she’s had slow starts in the past and Friday was no different. She had five points at halftime and started to consistently score in the second half. 

“After halftime, I finally get into the groove of things,” Utterback said.

Utterback had time to get going since Moberly only had a 19-17 halftime lead on a 3-point heave by Ariyonna Gross, who had 11 points along with Kyia Tydings’ 11 points, 11 rebounds and five steals. Minter said Van-Far was focused on those two and Zoey Hannam, but Olivia Dunwoody surprised with 10 points.

Van-Far has allowed under 40 points in two straight games, which has been two straight victories. The Lady Indians defeated Eastern Missouri Conference and district opponent Silex 35-34 before beating Moberly.

“(Dunwoody) stepped up for them so we had to switch around a couple of times and make our adjustments,” Minter said. “Our kids did.”

Van-Far plays at South Callaway (3-4) at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 9, feeling it can win even more games. They will have the opportunities, and Utterback and the Lady Indians are excited about that.

“It’s awesome,” Utterback said. “Last year, we had not so good of a year, but this year, we’re coming out and fighting.”