Cardinals soar to first ever state semifinals

MARBLE HILL, Mo. — Ask any athlete about playing in significant events such as the Class 3 quarterfinals and they all say it becomes just basketball.

But it’s more than just a basketball game. The stakes are higher. The crowd is bigger. The volume is louder.

And the celebration afterward is grander.

"That was electric in there," Woodland senior Lane Lee said. "You could definitely tell if you're out there on the floor, it's a lot bigger than basketball at that moment because you're not just playing for basketball, you're playing for your community. You're playing for all your fans out there, playing for all the little kids coming to cheer. You're playing for everything in Woodland."

In their first state playoff run, the Woodland Cardinals defeated the Jefferson Blue Jays 72-51 to advance to the Class 3 semifinals for the first time in school history on Friday, March 7.

"It means a lot," Woodland head coach Shawn Kinder said. "This is a goal we've set with them from the first day. We came up short a couple of times throughout the year with some of the goals that we had set for them but, tonight and this postseason run, they put some things together and they kept playing and they didn't quit. That says a lot about it. They're just resilient."

After winning their first district championship over Scott City and winning the sectional round over East Prairie, the Woodland seniors earned one more game on their home court. One that would cement their place in school history.

"When we won our district and then we beat East Prairie, we got the news that we were coming back home," Lee said. "It just feels amazing to be here right now and play one last game in front of our fans."

The game felt more like a condensed playoff series, as each quarter presented itself as its own game. The first quarter was a 17-all draw after a pair of free throws from Jackson Shock. Calvin Layton led the way for the Cardinals with nine of his 19 points in the opening period.

Jefferson earned a slight edge in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 28-27 lead. Colton Broadwater scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half for the Blue Jays.

Korbin Kinder scored eight of his team-high 20 points in the second quarter and a pair of free throws from Layton accounted for all the scoring from the Cardinals during that period.

Offensive rebounds and second-chance points fueled the Cardinals' second-half attack. Woodland started running away with the lead toward the end of the third quarter.

"We know we can trust our teammates," Korbin Kinder said. "We know we can trust them to make the shot, but we also know that sometimes shots don't fall and we got to clean up the mess."

The Cardinals led 42-35 entering the fourth quarter, their largest lead of the game. The gym began to thunder as anticipation was simmering among the spectators.

Momentum was clearly on Woodland’s side. As the Cardinals’ lead grew to double digits, reality started to settle in for both the crowd and the bench.

The Cardinals will be flying to Columbia.

The final minutes was Lee’s moment, as the senior scored 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter.

"They kept us right there in the game and then when I finally got hot, we just kind of ran away with it," Lee said. "We were all clicking on all cylinders."

Layton, Kinder, and Lee each took turns leading the Cardinals in scoring during three of the four quarters.

"One guy would get hot and then the defense would shift over to focusing on that guy," Korbin Kinder said. "And then we just got another guy who can respond and score all those points. We just got so many weapons offensively that can give you 20 any day."

Woodland (24-6) advances to the Class 3 final four, where the Cardinals will play Principia (29-1) with a trip to the state championship game on the line at 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 12.

"For us being undersized most games when we come in, we're kind of small overall," Kinder said. "Toughness and rebound has really been our key this year."

At the very least, they will bring a fourth-place trophy back to Marble Hill, but should the magical run continue for two more games and the Cardinals were to win the Class 3 state championship, that would mean a title in two sports for Woodland in the 2024-25 athletic school year.

"We tried to tell look straight ahead instead of looking up," Kinder said. "We took one game at a time, but it would mean everything to this school, the kids, this community, we got a lot of people, a lot of support."