Clopton sets up postseason roadblock for Canton yet again, pulls away for sectional victory

CLARKSVILLE, Mo. — Having played for the Canton girls basketball team in the 2000s and coached the Tigers for the last 10 seasons, Danielle Baker knows how much of a perennial power Clopton has been for the better part of the last two decades.

“Even when I was in high school, it was either you win a district championship and then you play Clopton or you play Clopton in the district championship,” Baker said.

Since 2003, the Hawks have made nine final four appearances, including four consecutive trips to the state Class 2 state championship game from 2003 to 2006 and a state title in 2005.

“Clopton ends a lot of Canton’s seasons,” Baker said. 

That happened again to Baker’s squad on Tuesday. The Hawks, who were ranked third in the final Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Class 2 regular season poll, blitzed the Tigers and ran away with a 79-39 victory in sectional play at the Clopton High School gym.

“You have to get used to playing here in this environment because they’ve played the same for decades it feels like,” Baker said. “Just look at all the banners. You have to have a championship mindset, a tough mindset when you play Clopton, or you won’t make it past sectionals.”

Charleigh Spoonster, Clopton’s quick-twitch, do-everything sophomore point guard, helped catapult the Hawks to a 25-9 lead after the first quarter as she scored 16 points, eclipsing her season average of 14.7 points per game in the first eight minutes.

“Charleigh is a phenomenon,” said Canton sophomore forward Kenna Oliver, who led the Tigers with 14 points. “She’s a monster. She’s one of the toughest opponents we’ve faced all season.”

Spoonster finished with 32 points, notching her seventh 20-point game of the season and knocking down five 3-pointers in the process. In three postseason games, Spoonster has scored 69 points and made 14 3-pointers.

“She’s always turning our wheel with passes and stuff, but when she’s solidifying the scoring role, too, it propels us in the right direction,” Hawks coach Deaven Streed said.

Spoonster had 23 points by halftime as the Hawks’ lead grew to 43-23 following a Tigers run that trimmed what was a 25-point deficit to 15 with 1:20 left in the second quarter. 

The Hawks’ scoring run extended to 11-0 when they scored the first six points of the second half. Their lead reached 30 by the midway point of the third quarter.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game and they were going to play really heavy defense,” Oliver said. “I think we just were a little bit scared, to be honest.”

In reaching the sectional round, the Tigers upended top-seeded Milan 61-35 in the district championship to register their eighth straight victory and first district title since 2020.

“I’m super proud of them for getting that,” Baker said. “At the beginning of the year, I didn’t know if we’d even be a contender because in our jamboree, we played teams in our district, and we looked terrible. They kept working at it and got a lot better.”

The Tigers (18-11) will graduate two seniors — Macy Glasgow and Kenzie Hultz — and will return three of their four leading scorers — Oliver, Chayse Uhlmeyer and Brenna Brewer — next season.

“I think we’ve got a bright future,” Oliver said. “I think that Chayse and I and our seniors next year are going to be ready to play and ready to face Clopton in the postseason.”

The Hawks (24-3) will clash with Tipton, the second-ranked team in Class 2, on Saturday for the right to advance to the final four. The Cardinals beat the Hawks 55-36 in last year’s state quarterfinal.

“They’re a hellacious team,” Streed said of Tipton, which has won seven games in a row and 21 of its last 23. “They’re fantastic. We had a big battle with them here last year, and they gave us everything we wanted and more. We’ll be up for the challenge. We’ll game plan it, we’ll do our best, and hopefully we’ll get over to Columbia after that. We’ll see.”