Long's 24 points lead Lady Tigers past Carl Junction

Nevada Daily Mail

CARL JUNCTION, Mo. -- "I was really pleased with them." Nevada Lady Tigers head basketball coach Brent Bartlett had a lot to be pleased with as his team took full advantage of the chance at revenge that was afforded them against the Lady Bulldogs of Carl Junction Tuesday night.

The two teams had already met once this season in the opening game of the St. Johns Sports Care Classic tournament on Nov. 30. In that contest, the Lady Tigers mounted a strong comeback after being down by as much as 14 points late in the game, but eventually fell short in a 50-46 loss.

Tuesday night's contest was an entirely different story, however, as the Lady Tigers used the intense and up-tempo style of play that is quickly becoming a trademark of this year's team to jump out to an early lead and never looked back on their way to a 62-41 win. "They played well," Bartlett said. "I mean, just effort and hustle; they were just relentless and kept it up all night."

Carl Junction was able to stay in the game throughout the first half, trailing by just two points after the first quarter and four after the second, but the second half was an entirely different scenario as the Lady Tigers were finally able to open up the contest. The Lady Tigers extended their lead to eight points at 42-34 heading into the fourth quarter before putting the final nail in the coffin and winning the final period 20-7.

Both sophomore Tiffani Long and junior Lexi Johnson set career highs in scoring as Long led all scorers by a substantial margin and was responsible for more than one-third of the Lady Tigers' offense and Johnson had her first double-digit scoring effort in varsity competition. Long finished the night with 24 points in the contest while Johnson had 10.

Five other Lady Tiger players got into the scoring column in the contest as sophomore Olivia Culbertson had nine points, followed by sophomore Megan Harper with eight, senior Daven Smith with six, senior Heather Thomas with three and senior Lauren Klinksick with two. "We had a lot of good performances but our defensive team effort is what really gets us going," Bartlett said.

That defensive effort proved to be more than enough as the Lady Tigers used their depth and athleticism to wear down the Carl Junction offense and hold them to just 17 points in the second half.

With that win, the Lady Tigers improved their overall record to 3-1 on the year and are set to be back in action again tonight as they host the Lady Cubs of Monett in a varsity-JV doubleheader at 6 p.m.

Carl Junction 45, Nevada 36

CARL JUNCTION, Mo. -- Six Tiger players got into the scoring column, led by sophomore Isaiah Colopy, but it simply proved to not be quite enough as the Bulldogs pulled out a 45-36 victory to salvage a split in Tuesday night's varsity doubleheader.

Colopy led the Tigers with 13 points, followed by Joseph Ferry, Brandon Munsterman and Tyler Dobson with six, Corey Kerbs with three and Kyle Banes with two. Ferry fouled out of the contest with 46 seconds to play in the fourth quarter.

With that loss, the Tigers fell to 1-3 on the year and are set to be in action again tomorrow as they host Warrensburg in a varsity-JV doubleheader at 5:30 p.m.