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Lady Tigers take second in district championship
The Nevada Lady Tigers varsity basketball team ended their season with a second place finish in the Class 4, District 12 tournament Saturday night as they took on a very talented Webb City Lady Cardinals team.
"They're a very talented team, there's no doubt about it," head coach Brent Bartlett said. "I thought we did some good things early."
The Lady Tigers came into the game knowing they would have a tough test ahead of them as they attempted to avenge a 51-16 loss in the Carthage tournament earlier this year. The Lady Tigers came into the night as a much better team than at that point earlier in the year, but it was not to be as they ultimately fell by a final score of 60-37.
The game got off to a bit of a slow start for Nevada as they struggled to keep up with Webb City's very quick offensive set, but the Lady Tigers were still able to manage some strong shooting through the early minutes to stay in the game. By the time the first quarter came to an end, the Lady Tigers found themselves down, but still in the game as they took a 14-6 deficit into the second quarter.
Webb City's defense proved to be the difference maker in the opening period as they held the Lady Tigers to just six shots in the opening frame. That strong defense continued through the remainder of the half and ultimately allowed the Lady Cardinals to open up their lead in the second quarter.
The Lady Tigers continued to struggle through the second quarter and the game quickly started to slip away as Webb City extended their lead to 32 points. By the time the final buzzer sounded, the Lady Cardinals had won the second quarter 28-4 to take a 42-10 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Katilin Jaeger did most of the damage in the opening half for Webb City as she went into the locker room with 13 points to lead all scorers. Tiffani Long and Olivia Culbertson provided most of the offense for Nevada as they finished out the half combined for eight of the Lady Tigers' 10 points.
Both sides came out of the locker room for the second half with tremendous intensity and the Lady Tigers looked as though they may attempt to make a comeback in the third quarter as they held their own and finished the third quarter only being outscored 14-12. The Lady Cardinals seemed a bit more relaxed as the minutes wore on, but still built their lead to as much as 39 points before taking a 56-22 lead into the final period.
The Lady Tigers never let up despite being seemingly out of the game and were able to to put together a strong finish to the contest, outscoring Webb City 15-4 in the fourth quarter. The 34-point third quarter lead proved to be too much to overcome, however, and the Lady Cardinals ultimately took the game by a final score of 60-37.
Leading the offensive effort for Webb City was Jaeger with 15 points, followed closely by Nicole Hudson with 12 and Hailey Roderique with 10. For Nevada, Long had another strong game as she finished the game as the only player in double figures with 10 of her own.
After the game, Barltett said, "We didn't quit, we kept playing hard right up until the final buzzer. This team has improved probably more than any other team I've ever coached."
With that loss, the Lady Tigers finish the season with a record of 10-17 and with the end of the season comes the end of the high school careers of Nevada's five seniors -- LeeAnn Stone, Jordan Bell, Taylor Means, Reba Hurst and Jessica Harper.