Perhaps Cairo Coach Bob Roberts should ask MSHSAA for a few more gold medals.

Employing a triangle-and-two defense that Roberts hadn’t thought about until his father, brother and Meadville Principal Ron Holcer suggested it, Cairo held Delta scoreless in the first quarter of a 54-32 in the Class 1 girls final yesterday at Mizzou Arena.

"I give my scouts, my dad, my brother Rick and Ron Holcer from Meadville a lot of credit," Roberts said. "They said, ‘I think if you play them a triangle-and-two you’ll bum-foozle them.’ "

Roberts added that he’s not quite sure what "bum-foozle" means, but the defensive strategy worked and helped Cairo (28-3) to its first state championship. Delta (25-3), which upset previously unbeaten Meadville in Thursday’s semifinal round, missed all 10 of its shots from the field in the first quarter in falling behind 14-0.

The defense was used to take away Delta’s two biggest shooting threats, Taylor Smith and Sarah Keys, who combined for 30 points in the semifinal win. Delta Coach Randall White wasn’t sure if it was the new defense that limited the two guards or if they just had an off day. Either way, Smith and Keys combined to score 20 points on 3-for-24 shooting.

"We had our basic offense, which usually gets a couple of kids open in the corners, and we didn’t shoot the ball very well," White said. "We haven’t had a quarter like that before."

With a lead that grew to as many as 16 points in the second quarter, Roberts kept thinking that the game wasn’t over. That seemed to be the case when Keys made a pair of free throws with less than a minute remaining in the first half to bring Delta within 21-11. But Darlene King made a basket and Brandie Roberts added a left-handed layup with 2 seconds left that extended the Cairo lead to 25-11 at halftime.

"That was big," Bob Roberts said. "We took any momentum they had back from them."

A day after scoring 41 points and grabbing 14 rebounds in a double-overtime win over Macks Creek, Brandie Roberts didn’t have to be as productive. She took half as many shots and still led Cairo with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Yesterday, Brandie Roberts said she felt like she didn’t have to do as much because of the help she got. King scored 12 points, Shelby Gittemeier made three 3-pointers in the first half en route to scoring 11 and Daris King added 10 for Cairo.

"Other people stepped up today, and that’s what a good team does," Brandie Roberts said. "I credit my teammates because they all did a fantastic job."

The most satisfying thing about Cairo’s quick start, Bob Roberts said, was that it hadn’t started games well all season.

"It usually takes about midway through the second quarter before we get geared up," Roberts said. "(Yesterday), we came geared up to start."

While Cairo jumped to its quick start, White kept expecting his two guards to heat up from the outside and help his team come back. But that never happened. Smith was the only Delta player to score in double figures, and she scored most of her 14 points on 9-of-10 foul shooting. Keys’ only basket came at the end of the third quarter and made the score 38-19. She finished with six points and six rebounds.

Cairo won its first state championship in basketball, boys or girls, and its second team championship this school year. Brandie Roberts is one of three players who was also on Cairo’s softball team, which won the Class 1 title in October.

● Meadville 58, Macks Creek 36: After suffering its first loss of the season in the semifinals, Meadville (30-1) held Macks Creek scoreless in the first quarter and won the third-place game.

Kaci Sargent led the way with 18 points, 21 rebounds and four blocked shots. Kendra Holcer added 13 points for Meadville.

Toria Blecher led Macks Creek (22-8) with 11 points. The Pirates shot just 19.3 percent from the field.

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