Lady Tigers struggle at home, fall to McDonald County 58-50

Saturday, January 16, 2010
Ralph Pokorny/Herald-Tribune Nevada senior Heather Thomas scores two points from under the basket during Friday's game against the McDonald County Lady Mustangs.

After the Lady Tigers found themselves on a scoring drought that lasted the better part of 8 minutes, the Lady Mustangs of McDonald County High School wasted no time taking full advantage of the situation during Friday night's game at Wynn Gymnasium.

Things looked very glim for the Lady Tigers as McDonald County quickly turned what was just a four-point lead into a 16-point advantage at the half. All seemed lost completely early in the second quarter when sophomore Tiffani Long -- Nevada's leading scorer -- was ticketed with her fourth foul with 5:55 to go in the half.

That momentum swing was mostly due to the fact that the Lady Tigers simply couldn't handle the tough zone defense that McDonald County brought into the game and the Lady Mustangs shot a staggering 55 percent in the first half. "They were on fire," Lady Tigers head coach Brent Bartlett said of the opposition. "If they shoot like that, they're going to win many, many more ballgames."

Lady Mustangs head coach LaDonna McClain said that Friday night was the first time her team had shot that well, but the fire came when they needed it, allowing them to eventually go on to win the game by a final score of 58-50.

Both teams came into the game with records well above .500 on the season and knew that Friday's contest would be among their toughest of the year. The Lady Tigers simply couldn't overcome the loss of their best offensive producer, as well as the intense battle with turnovers they fought throughout the night.

Those turnovers, Bartlett said, were a major contributor to the loss. "If we take care of the basketball, we're going to score," he said.

The Lady Tigers struggled with both of those things in the opening half Friday night, but refused to go down without a fight and things seemed to begin to come together in the second half. The Lady Tigers were eventually able to cut the lead down to as little as seven in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Mustangs always seemed to find the spark when they needed it, allowing them to hold on for a 58-50 win.

"I told them I wasn't mad at them at all after the game," Bartlett said. "We just dug ourselves too deep a hole."

Both teams spent a tremendous amount of time at the charity stripe in the contest and the Lady Tigers were able to convert on 21 of their 30 attempts -- a statistic that allowed them to keep the game within striking distance -- while McDonald County went 7-for-13. The Lady Mustangs continued their hot shooting right through the second half, though it did fall off slightly, and went on to finish the game at 51 percent while the Lady Tigers managed to hit just 30 percent of their shots from the field.

With that loss, the Lady Tigers' record dropped to 8-4 on the year and they are now set to take a nearly week-long break before getting back into action next Thursday when they head to Lamar.

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