Menu
Lady Tigers falter late in regular season finale
The Nevada High School girls basketball team lost its final game of the regular season Friday night inside Wynn Gymnasium, and afterward head coach Blake Howarth admitted it was a heartbreaker.
One he hopes his Lady Tigers feel for one more day.
Then, completely forget about it.
“This was a very, very tough one for us,” said Howarth, whose team hung with Logan-Rogersville for the first 33 minutes but could not buy a bucket in the final three, and as a result lost 48-42. “I want them to let it settle in a little bit, so that when we come in on Sunday we’re ready to go. Don’t let it linger too long, but be ready to go on Sunday so that on Monday we don’t get this feeling and we’re able to continue our season.”
Nevada (11-12) will host Webb City Monday night in the opening round of the Class 5 District 12 tournament, and if the Lady Tigers can create open shots like they did Friday they should have an excellent chance to advance to the finals.
Of course, unlike Friday night, they’ll need some of those shots to fall — or else the heartbreak will be much worse.
“I’m not ready for our season to be over, and I know our girls aren’t ready for it to be over. Because after Monday, winner stays and loser, your season’s over," said Howarth, whose offense against the Lady Wildcats (7-14) opened up several open looks from the corner and wing, but only a few of the shots found the bottom of the net. “Unfortunately, shots haven’t fallen, and it’s been like that this season. But our girls don’t give up. We continue to play and battle through it.”
This one was close from the tip.
Nevada senior guard Abby Harder got the scoring started with a drive and a layup, before Logan-Rogersville junior forward Lauren Williams answered with six straight points on the other end.
Senior Tylin Heathman, who scored a team-high 11 points for Nevada, then hit a pair of buckets. After another deuce by a Lady Wildcat big — this time junior Kierra Clark — freshman Lady Tiger Clara Swearingen hit a step-back 3-pointer.
Nevada still trailed 12-11 after the opening quarter, but took advantage of a slew of Logan-Rogersville turnovers to open the second — including a five-second call on the team’s first possession because head coach Jeff Dishman was still talking to his team on the bench.
Swearingen hit a jumper plus the foul, Heathman knocked down a pair of free throws, and junior Grace Barnes hit her first of two treys in the period to cap off an 8-0 run that put the Lady Tigers up 19-12.
Williams went on another roll midway through the quarter, but Nevada was able to head into halftime up 26-20.
The Lady Tigers came out of the locker room ice cold, though, managing just four points in the third quarter — something Howarth has seen far too many times this season.
“Unfortunately, we just go on those dry spells,” said Howarth, who wasn’t about to let them discourage him. “It could be frustrating, if our girls didn’t play hard on defense. But our girls continued to play hard and I’m super proud of the way they fly around and work on the defensive end.”
Down one heading into the fourth, the Lady Tigers missed a couple of corner threes early but were able to keep the score within two at the five-minute mark — after Heathman rebounded her own miss, drew a foul, and sank two free throws.
A few possessions later, Barnes crashed the offensive glass and found Harder (who finished with nine points) for a long 2-pointer to tie the game.
After a Logan-Rogersville turnover, Barnes dished to Harder again, this time a few inches further from the hoop for a three that gave Nevada a 39-36 lead with just over three minutes to go and forced Dishman to call a timeout.
Despite more open looks in those final three minutes, the Lady Tigers failed to score again until freshman Katie Johnson converted an and-1 with less than a minute to go.
By then, Williams and company had taken the lead and refused to relinquish it.
“I know that we have girls that can score at any point, and our girls know that they can too. Unfortunately, the lid stayed on the bucket a little longer than we thought maybe it would,” said Howarth, who after the game was already thinking about what kind of practice he intends to run Sunday. “We’re definitely going to focus on our shooting on the weekend break. I’m very proud of our girls and expect them to keep their head up and respond in the right way on Monday.”