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Nevada girls hold on, top Butler
By Jason Peake
Daily Mail Sports Editor
HARRISONVILLE -- With a big lead quickly vanishing, and with turnovers, fouls and missed free throws down the stretch, Brent Bartlett was feeling a bit stressed out. He may have aged a bit, too.
"I told the girls my hair was dark when I left the house today, but now it's turning gray," Bartlett said.
Nevada's girls basketball team nearly let a 13-point lead slip away. But Bartlett's Tigers held on late for a 39-36 win over Butler in a first round contest of the Harrisonville Holiday Tournament on Saturday.
The Tigers got off to a stellar start, scoring the game's first 13 points while frustrating Butler into 10 first-quarter turnovers.
"We had a tremendous start, but then we got into foul trouble,"Bartlett said.
That's when the momentum suddenly shifted. The Bears began to trap out of its zone defense, the Tigers began turning the ball over and the game got closer and closer.
"Our youth didn't handle it well," Bartlett said of the trapping defense. "We had too many turnovers. We weren't confident with the ball. But we're going to get better."
After leading 13-0 at the end of the first quarter, Nevada's lead was down to 22-16 at the half.
Nevada turned the ball over nine times in the second quarter, matching the team's point total for the frame.
A back and forth third quarter ended with Nevada clinging to a 31-27 lead.
And as the fourth quarter began, it was anyone's game.
Butler's Jennifer McMurphy scored in the lane early in the fourth period to cut Nevada's lead to 31-29.
But Nevada junior Tori Dahmer drew a foul and hit two free throws on the other end. After Butler missed two free throws, Nevada freshman Rilie Good grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in to extend the lead to 35-26.
Butler then turned the ball over on its next possession, while Nevada got a putback inside from Dahmer to get some breathing room at 37-29.
Butler didn't go away, though. McMurphy scored in the lane, the Tigers turned it over and McMurphy scored again, making it 37-33. Nevada then threw the ball away on its next possession.
But the Bears couldn't take advantage, as Alyx Gepford missed a three-pointer. After the miss, Nevada's Mikayla Bartlett ran down the loose ball and fired a pass to a streaking Dahmer, who scored the other way to make it 39-33 in perhaps the game's biggest play.
The Bears still weren't done, though. Gepford hit a three with 14 seconds left to make it 39-36.
The Bears fouled immediately, and Dahmer missed the front end of a one-and-one.
Butler grabbed the rebound and headed up the floor, but a pass went off the hands of Kayla Morris out of bounds with just seconds remaining.
Butler fouled again, and Dahmer missed the free throw again. But the Bears ran out of time, and didn't even get a potential game-tying shot up.
After the tense win, Coach Bartlett said a win is a win.
"I'm proud of this team," he said. "It wasn't pretty, but it was a win. We did just enough to get a victory, so I'm proud of them."
Dahmer scored 15 points and grabbed nine boards to lead Nevada, which improves to 8-1 on the season with the win. A six-foot freshman, Good pulled down 10 rebounds and scored five off the bench.
Nevada's girls are back at the tourney tonight, where they'll take on Pleasant Hill at 5 p.m. at HHS Auxiliary Gym. In other first round action, Harrisonville hammered Drexel 50-23.
Harrisonville Holiday Tournament
Saturday's result
Nevada 39, Butler 36
NE 13 9 9 8 -- 39
BU 0 16 11 9 -- 36
Nevada: MacKenzie Pritchett 3, Kelsey McCall 1, Tori Dahmer 15, Mikayla Bartlett 5, Megan Harper 2, Ashley Shumaker 2, Bailey Harbit 4, Rilie Good 5, Morgan McNeley 2. Totals 13 (0) 13-19 39. Three-pointers: None. Fouls 17. Turnovers 27. Rebounds 35 (Good 10, Dahmer 9).
Butler: Wainscott 4, Gepford 8, Kayla Morris 3, Kiersten Morris 0, Sargent 2, McMurphy 18. Fouls 18. Turnovers 16.