Lady Tigers: Queens of Carthage tourney with third crown

CARTHAGE, Mo. -- A strong second-half surge lifted the Nevada Lady Tigers to a 56-44 win over Carthage on Saturday.

Nevada, the No. 2 seed, unseated the defending champion and top-seed to claim its second title in three years.

In the second half, Hillary Adams lit it up from outside for 15 of her game-high 22 points and Lacy Leonard, controlling the paint, netted 13 of her 21 to carry the Lady Tigers to their third Carthage Invitational title.

"In the first half, No. 10 (Aspen Roughton) did an awesome job guarding me and I didn't touch the ball very much," said Adams, who hit three big 3-pointers in the second half. "When she got hurt, I got open and just let it go and they went in."

Carthage (9-3) suffered a key loss when its point guard and floor leader Roughton went down with an ankle injury in the opening minute of the third quarter. With her out, shooting guard Meghan Waggoner, who led all scorers with 14 first-half points, went scoreless in the second half.

Nevada, plagued by turnovers, trailed 30-21 at halftime, then, spurred by a 9-0 run after the intermission, tied the contest at 40 as the third quarter expired.

What jumpstarted the Lady Tigers?

"I think it was something Coach said when we came to the bench right after the second half began," said Leonard. "But I can't repeat it."

Asked to elaborate, Nevada coach Brent Bartlett said, "Sometimes I get motivated and fired up myself…and they don't always see me like that, but when I do and my neck bulges out of my collar, that kind of motivates 'em.

"We challenged them, bluntly, and told them, 'hey, it's grow-up time,' and they got it done in the second half."

Nevada (9-3) outscored Carthage 16-4 in the fourth quarter to win going away, its seventh in a row.

Freshman Amanda Wilson chipped in with nine points, including the first four of the game, and added five rebounds and five assists.

Katie Rice grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, while Adams was the assist and steal leader with eight and seven, respectively.

Waggoner's 14 paced Carthage. Tierrah Newman and Katie Burger netted nine apiece.

The Tigers, in the final for the fifth consecutive year, won their third championship in the nine-year history of the event to break a tie with Mount Vernon for the most wins.

"It speaks for the type of players Nevada has had in the past and now," said Bartlett, coach of all three champions.

Added Adams, "It's a great feeling. We've been in the championship all three years that I've been here and we've won it twice. We played awesome tonight and I'm just so excited to be a part of this team. I couldn't ask for anything else."

Leonard and Adams were selected to the all-tournament team, along with Joplin's Marchalle Gains and Carthage's Roughton and Waggoner.

Joplin outlasted Neosho 41-38 for third place and Mount Vernon defeated the Carthage junior varsity 55-19 in the consolation game. Nevada takes its home floor against Webb City in a Southwest Conference matchup tonight. Junior varsity action tips off at 5 p.m.