O’FALLON, Mo. — Danielle Moore is glad to keep her competitive basketball playing days going at least a little while longer.

The Francis Howell 6-foot-2 senior forward, who is a Wichita State volleyball commit, scored 15 points, including 11 in the more tightly contested first half, to help the Vikings to a 45-28 win over Francis Howell Central in a Class 6 District 4 semifinal game Saturday afternoon at Fort Zumwalt West.

Moore, the daughter of Missouri State basketball Hall of Famer and current Howell assistant coach Danny Moore, played just eight games her sophomore year due to injury and then didn’t play basketball last season.

She is happy she made the decision to come back and play hoops for the Vikings as a senior.

“I’ve been playing basketball since I was younger, so coming back this year was really important to me,” Moore said. “Since these games could be my last one, I just want to put it all out there for the team.”

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Howell coach Scott Cleer is also pleased to have Moore back in the fold this season.

“I forgot how nice it is to have a rim protector because I haven’t had one,” he said. “She’s such a good shooter, so I knew what I was getting there but when you get that rim protector you know that’s nice to have.”

Vikings to play for title

With its ninth consecutive victory, top-seeded Howell (24-4) — the No. 5 team in the STLhighschoolsports.com large-schools rankings — advances to Tuesday’s 6 p.m. district championship against No. 2 seed Troy (22-6), which is ranked second among large schools.

District 4 was loaded with three teams ranked within the area’s top five and all were highly familiar with each other as they are all part of the GAC South.

Howell’s win over Howell Central was its third of the season, while the Vikings and Trojans split their two regular-season meetings.

“The top four teams in our district are four of the best public-school teams in the area,” Cleer said. “Troy is gonna try to push it and get to the basket. We played them twice, so there’s no surprises.”

Spartans victim of tough road

Fourth-seeded Howell Central (18-10) may have been a higher seed in a different district, but as it was, the Spartans put up another good fight against a Vikings team they know well.

“Howell is a very good team. Their ability to beat you both inside and out and then the depth that comes with that is what makes them who they are,” Spartans coach Hayley Leake said. “When they bring the length that they do, if you don’t get something early in transition, you’re stuck with needing to execute the half-court really, really well and we just weren’t able to get as many looks in the half-court setting.”

Howell Central will lose six seniors to graduation, four of which started Saturday, including leading scorer Riley Henderson, who led the Spartans in the district final with 11 points.

“What makes them special is each path that they had was very unique to find their place within this program,” Leake said. “The one unifier to me was just how hard they always worked. We have sometimes not been the most talented group on the floor, but their work ethic is what keeps us in games, so I’m proud of everything they’ve given us the past four years.”

Moore paces early lead

Moore drained a trio of jumpers in the first 6 minutes, 37 seconds of the game to give Howell a 9-4 lead after one quarter and she notched five of the Vikings’ 12 second quarter points as they took a 21-14 advantage into the halftime locker room.

“We called a timeout (early in the game) and got on the kids for shooting too many 3s. It has to go through your big kids inside,” Cleer said. “They didn’t have anybody tall enough to block her, so we were trying to get her established inside. We made a concerted after that timeout to go through her in the first half.”

Porchia revs up after halftime

While the first half belonged to Moore, the second half was all Amya Porchia for the Vikings.

After a scoreless first 16 minutes, the junior guard buried five 3-pointers in the final 16 and finished with a game-high 16 points.

“She was forcing a little bit early, but shooters are gonna shoot, right,” Cleer said. “You never tell your shooters to stop shooting. As soon as she got the first one down, you could just see it in her eyes.”

Porchia is also a new face for Howell this season after a summer transfer from Incarnate Word. She played a smaller bench role the last two seasons for the four-time defending Class 6 champion Red Knights.

“I loved being at Incarnate and all the girls there, but I also knew I just wanted to play,” Porchia said. “Coming here, I know I can play and still have a competitive team and win. It feels good to have both now.”

Class 6 District 4 girls basketball semifinal: Francis Howell 45, Francis Howell Central 28

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