Lady Tigers fall to Archie

ARCHIE, Mo. -- The winter holiday break is always bound to cause some problems when it comes to athletics. Staying in shape, remembering all of the offensive and defensive schemes that were put into place before the break and simple things like working together as a team are all factors that high school basketball coaches are forced to battle with this time of year.

Nevada Lady Tigers head coach Brent Bartlett is no exception to that very undesirable unwritten rule of the game and it showed as his squad went out on the road to take on the Lady Whirlwinds of Archie High School Monday night. Bartlett's squad struggled right from the outset of the contest in what turned out to be a very sloppy night for both sides and Archie was ultimately able to capitalize, pushing its record to 6-2 on the year with a 44-34 victory.

The Lady Tigers got off to a slow start offensively as they shot just 30 percent in the first half and things went downhill from there. With a 5-for-25 (20 percent) shooting performance in the second half, the Lady Tigers finished 11-for-45 (24 percent) overall. The Lady Whirlwinds didn't have a stellar night from the field, either, but did finish 12 percent better as they shot 13-for-36 (36 percent).

The Lady Tigers did much better from the free-throw line on the night than they did from the field, but simply didn't get many opportunities from there. The 5-for-8 effort Bartlett's squad put up in Monday's contest was good, but was substantially overshadowed by Archie's 14-for-20 showing, simply because of the number of foul shots the Lady Whirlwinds were afforded.

The Whirlwinds were led offensively by junior Abby Shipley with 13 points and senior Mallory Clark with 10. For Nevada, junior Olivia Culbertson led the offensive effort with eight points, followed closely by juniors Megan Harper and Tiffani Long with seven points apiece.

Nevada's junior varsity squad had far better luck on the night as it had a similarly sloppy start, but was ultimately able to hold on for a 38-23 victory.

With that loss, the Lady Tigers fell to 5-6 on the year and are scheduled to be back in action on Friday, when they return home to take on Springfield's Kickapoo High School in a varsity/JV doubleheader at 6 p.m.