WENTZVILLE • The Fort Zumwalt West girls basketball team left little doubt about the outcome of its Class 5 District 6 semifinal game at Timberland on Tuesday.
Zumwalt West shot a blistering 56.9 percent from the field as it rolled to a 24-point halftime lead en route to the 67-37 win.
For West senior Marina Laramie, explaining the outcome was simple.
"We know that any game could be our last, and that's motivation enough," Laramie said. "Now is the time when you've just got to go out and give it your all."
Zumwalt West (22-5, No. 4 in the STLhighschoolsports.com large-schools rankings) gave up the game's first two points on a back-door layup by Timberland's Sam Smith and proceeded to score 11 straight points.
Making shots at a rapid-fire pace, Zumwalt West led 47-23 at halftime.
In addition to 14 first half points from Laramie, Kylie Ellison sank a three 3-pointers and closed the half with 11 points.
"This feels good, and we owe the great start to our coaches," Ellison said. "They really are working hard to make us focus in the postseason. It really is great to look up at the scoreboard and see the 47 points at halftime."
Zumwalt West, the district's No. 1 seed, was led by Laramie's 18 points. Ellison finished with 13 points,and Katie Hare had 12.
"Our girls had confidence tonight," West coach Monica Tritz said. "They worked the ball around and got some good shots off."
Allison Lockett led Timberland (9-17) with 15 points, and Taliesha Hart added eight points.
"Zumwalt West can present a lot of problems," Timberland coach Hayley Leake said. "Tonight, we just had the mindset that we were going to try and make them beat us from the outside, and they continued to hit from the outside."
Zumwalt West advances to play No. 2 seed Troy in the district championship game at 6 p.m. Friday. Zumwalt West powered to a 53-39 win against Troy on Jan. 27.
Troy defeated holt 53-45 to earn its spot in the title game.
"I don't think we were as focused as we should have been, and I know that's one of coach's pet peeves," Ellison said. "Hopefully, we can (have) that (focus) this time."
