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Nevada Middle School basketball topples Joplin Memorial
The Nevada Tigers eighth grade girls' basketball A and B teams squared off against the Eagles of Joplin Memorial Monday evening and put on a dominant performance.
The game started off very strong for the Tigers as they were getting some tremendous looks inside the paint and putting up a relentless wall on the defensive end of the court. Nevada came up with seven steals in the opening period and was able to take advantage of a weak Joplin defense coupled with some very poor offensive execution to take a 14-0 lead by the time the buzzer sounded.
Joplin's defense started to show signs of improvement in the second period, but poor execution by the offense continued to be the thorn in their side and Nevada was able to extend the lead even further. The Eagles didn't get on the board until near the midpoint of the second period and eventually found themselves down 23-2 as the two teams headed to the locker room for halftime.
Neither team got many chances at the free-throw line in the first half, but the Tigers were able to come out on top in that category as well, as they went 3-for-5 while Joplin missed both of their attempts from the stripe.
The Tigers went on to extend their lead to 27-2 after the third period thanks to very strong rebounding and coming up with some solid defense that netted them four more steals in the period -- bringing their total for the game to 14. Nevada's offense continued that dominance through the final period and eventually went on to take the victory by a final score of 37-4.
The offensive effort for the Tigers was led by two players who were able to score in double figures, Victoria Culbertson and Ashley Shumaker. Culbertson finished the game with 14 points, while Shumaker was not far behind with 10.
The A game started off in a much similar manner, but Joplin was noticeably better at rebounding than in the B game. Both defenses stayed very aggressive through the opening period and Nevada was able to take advantage of what appeared to be a little too much aggression from Joplin as they saw the charity stripe twice in the first quarter, making two of four shots.
Nevada's effort was helped tremendously by the strong defensive play of Lauren Baker as she was able to come up with four steals on the way to a 12-1 lead for the Tigers at the end of the period.
The second period was once again more of the same as Nevada continued to dominate the offensive end and was again rewarded by the over-aggression shown by the Eagles. Nevada found the stripe three times in the second period, but was unable to convert any of those opportunities as they found themselves with a 20-2 halftime lead.
Joplin's offensive woes continued through the third quarter and Nevada refused to let up on either end. The Tigers were again the only ones to get an opportunity from the free-throw line and took a 32-8 lead into the game's final six minutes.
The fourth period was much more even than most of the rest of the game. The Tigers still outscored Joplin by four points, but neither team showed any signs of giving up or even slowing down.
Baker came up with her sixth steal of the game -- five of which came in the first half -- and Nevada went on to take the victory by a final score of 42-12. Baker had a strong performance overall in the game, as she finished out the contest with six steals and 10 points.
Both the seventh grade A and B teams were in action on the night as well, but those scores were unavailable at press time.
All four teams are scheduled to be in action again tonight as they eighth graders are set to travel to Lamar while the seventh graders will host them in the Nevada Middle School gymnasium at 5 p.m.