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Nevada Classic begins, Lady Tigers start off strong
The Nevada Classic that had been delayed three days due to weather finally began Thursday night with a series of six games at Nevada Middle School and Nevada High School.
The Nevada Lady Tigers were among the 12 teams in action Thursday night as they squared off against the Lady Eagles of Joplin. The Lady Tigers came in expecting a tough game and hoping to avenge a 49-31 road loss to the Lady Eagles in the last meeting of the two teams.
Revenge is exactly what the Lady Tigers got in the game as they started strong and held the game close throughout most of the night. In the final three minutes of the game, the Lady Tigers went from down by 12 points to a 65-62 victory.
"What a comeback," head coach Brent Bartlett said. " It was a great team effort and a great comeback."
The first quarter was an up-and down battle that saw four ties and six lead changes before the final buzzer. Nevada seemed to have control early and the Lady Eagles were kept on their toes, resulted in multiple turnovers throughout the early minutes that allowed Nevada to stay in the game.
Both defenses came out strong in the game and put up three blocks each while the offenses struggled to find their rhythm. The Lady Tigers were eventually able to come out on top in the frame, taking a slim 17-14 lead into the second quarter.
The lead changes came to an end late in the opening period and Nevada was able to extend their lead to as much as seven points before the end of the half. Fouls were a major issue for both teams as the Lady Tigers finished out the half with 14 as a team to Joplin's 12, but Nevada was able to take advantage of an array of turnovers and mistakes by the Joplin offense to take a 33-28 lead into the locker room at the break, finishing out the half with a higher scoring total than they were able to put up in the entire game at Joplin.
In the first half, the Lady Eagles had a total of 19 turnovers to Nevada's four and neither team's offense was able to put together a very strong shooting effort. The Lady Tigers shot just 25 percent in the first half, while the Lady Eagles didn't do much better at 29 percent.
The game truly became what one might call a tale of two halves as the Lady Eagles came out firing in the third quarter and went on a 9-0 run to take a 37-33 lead. The period ended with two ties and three more lead changes, but Joplin was eventually able to get the better of it, heading into the game's final eight minutes up by a score of 48-44.
Through the final minutes of the third period and most of the fourth, it looked as though Joplin had fully recovered from the offensive woes of the first half and the Lady Tigers began to lose their composure. The Lady Eagles took control of the game in the second half and quickly began to extend their lead, eventually building a 12-point advantage with three and a half minutes to go.
Just when it looked as though Nevada was out of the game, the fire that the Lady Tigers showed at the beginning of the night came back and the lead quickly started dwindling down. In the final three minutes of the game, the Lady Tigers put together a very strong effort and began to dominate the game on both ends of the floor.
With 23 seconds to go in the game, freshman Olivia Culbertson catapulted herself to "player of the game" status as she drained a 3-pointer to give Nevada a 65-62 lead. Though the Lady Eagles attempted to get back into the game in the closing seconds, that lead held up and Nevada earned their fifth win of the year by a final score of 65-62.
"Olivia's confidence is just growing and growing," Bartlett said. "I've seen it over the past month." Though Culbertson did not lead Nevada's offensive effort, she did have a very strong effort in the game besides the winning 3-point field goal, finishing out the night with 13 points.
Two other Lady Tiger players finished the night in double figures, led by Heather Thomas with 16, despite fouling out the of the game with 2:07 to go. Tiffani long, who led the scoring for Nevada their last three games, finished out the contest with 12 points, followed by Allie Irwin with 11.
With the win, the Lady Tigers improve to 5-11 on the season and are set to face Stockton tonight in game five of the girls' bracket at 6 p.m., inside Wynn Gymnasium.
In other action on the night, the Stockton boys and girls were both in action with very different results. Stockton's boys took on the Knights of Kansas City Southeast and Fred Williams' 18 points led the Knights to a 67-58 victory while the girls took on Lamar, rolling their way to a 68-52 win.
Brittany Milligan's 20 points proved to be the difference maker as she led the effort for Stockton.