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Lady Tigers handle C.J.
By Joe Warren
Nevada Daily Mail
Lacy Leonard got things going and Hillary Adams took over down the stretch.
The two Lady Tiger seniors carried most of the offensive burden for Nevada as they beat Carl Junction 65-54 in the first round of the Carthage Lady Tiger Invitational Tuesday night.
Leonard got things started by scoring 13 of her 17 points in the first quarter as Nevada opened a 20-10 lead. The Lady Tigers had an 18-6 run to start the game and that is when Leonard did most of her damage.
Carl Junction would not go away though, and they closed the gap to 20-15 early in the second period. Then Adams got involved, scoring her team's next seven points and Nevada would go into halftime leading by 12.
In the third quarter Adams scored nine of her game-high 22 points as the Lady Tigers led by as many as 21 points.
In the fourth quarter Carl Junction made a spirited run but Nevada held them off for their seventh victory of the season.
"I'm very pleased with the victory," Nevada coach Brent Bartlett said. It was the first game for the Lady Tigers since Dec. 17.
Bartlett said he was not surprised that the two seniors set the tone offensively for his team.
"Those two are good players," he said. "We also have some other girls that can step up and hit shots as needed."
Lisa Pendrak was one of those other players. She scored 10 points including a big three-pointer in the second quarter to give Nevada a 12-point lead after Carl Junction had closed the gap to nine.
"Lisa stepped up and did a good job tonight," Bartlett said.
The Lady Tigers were not without faults in their first game of 2005. Even though they led by 21 in the second half, Carl Junction was able to cut the lead to seven in the fourth quarter.
An 18-4 run by the Lady Bulldogs trimmed a 55-34 advantage to 59-52 with 2:13 left in the game.
Amanda Wilson scored with 1:55 to stop the bleeding and free throws by Pendrak and Adams sealed the win.
Bartlett attributed the Carl Junction run to a lack of movement offensively and too many fouls on the defensive end.
"We did a lot of standing around offensively and not attacking," Bartlett said. "It seemed like in the fourth quarter we hurt ourselves more on the defensive end."
The Lady Tigers (7-2) next will face Nixa in the semifinals of the tournament. The other semifinal will be Mount Vernon taking on Carthage.
Carthage beat the Joplin junior varsity Monday to advance, while Mount Vernon beat the Joplin varsity squad.
A scary moment occurred in the first half as freshman forward Lindsay Rice went down with an injury to her left knee.
Rice was set to have the knee examined today. The preliminary discussions pointed to a dislocated knee but that was not confirmed.
"Our main concern right now is making sure that Lindsay is alright," Bartlett said after the game.
The injury to Rice gave freshman Jordan Webb her first extended playing time of the season and she scored two points.
Carl Junction was led by freshman April Testman with 17 points. Carl Junction senior Abby Collier was the only other player in double figures.