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Lady Tigers wrestle tourney victory away from Nixa
By Joe Warren
Nevada Daily Mail
The Nevada Lady Tigers turned bad news into an inspired performance against Nixa Thursday night in the Carthage Invitational.
After learning just before game time that freshman forward Lindsay Rice was lost for the season with a knee injury, the Lady Tigers dedicated the game to their teammate and controlled the quick Lady Eagles throughout.
Showing intensity and an overall energy level not seen yet this season, the Lady Tigers solved the Nixa press and out-muscled the Springfield-area school.
Lacy Leonard had a game-high 23 points and Hillary Adams had nine of her 18 points in the fourth period as the Lady Tigers held off a late Nixa rally for the 59-48 win.
"It's a great win, but that's not the goal this week," Nevada coach Brent Bartlett said after the game. "We've got one more Saturday night."
The Lady Tigers will face either Carthage or Mount Vernon in the tournament championship game Saturday. Those two schools face each other tonight at Carthage High School.
The Lady Eagles (7-6) surprised Nevada (8-2) in the first quarter as they came out with a diamond press that they were able to get into quickly after Lady Tiger defensive rebounds.
With Nevada always looking to push the ball up the court and players trying to fill lanes after getting possession, the press was effective at first since the Lady Tigers were caught having nobody for the ball-handler to outlet to.
Nixa led 7-3, before Nevada was finally able to adjust.
"It really created some problems for us early," Bartlett said about the press. "But we did a tremendous job of adjusting."
Once the Lady Tigers figured out that the press was coming at all times, the ball-handlers were able to break it and that created fast-break opportunities offensively.
"Overall I'm pleased with how we attacked and did a better job of ball movement," Bartlett said.
Helping matters was the Nevada defense, which Bartlett changed frequently. The Lady Tigers went from man-to-man, into zones and also did some pressing of their own at times.
"Tonight it seemed like everybody sitting on the bench was in the game, this was a real team effort," Bartlett said.
Bartlett went to his bench early and often to keep the girls fresh and the team responded by employing each of the defenses with equal tenacity.
"I thought the girls executed well in all of our defenses tonight," Bartlett said. "Our energy does not come from just playing one single defense."
Bartlett said changing the defensive looks often was designed with hopes to keep Nixa out of any offensive rhythm. Since the Lady Eagles only scored 48 points, the strategy seemed to work.
"We're at our best when we mix defenses," Bartlett said.
Bartlett said the news before the game that Rice had a torn ACL and MCL was an inspiration to the team to play well.
"We dedicated this game to Lindsay Rice," he said. "They were playing for something tonight."
After taking a 22-20 lead on a Leonard basket with 2:16 left in the first half, Nevada never trailed again.
After seeing an 11-point lead cut to five in the fourth quarter, Adams sank seven of eight free throws down the stretch to seal the win.