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Beshore, Ferry, power Lady Tigers to CJ Classic title game triumph over Seneca
After nearly two decades in the making Brent Bartlett’s Nevada Lady Tiger basketball program has captured the Freeman Sports Medicine CJ Classic.
A gritty effort paved the way to Nevada’s 54-42 title game victory over the Seneca Indians Thursday night at Carl Junction High School.
In a contest that featured three second half technical fouls and much physicality throughout, the Lady Tigers ran out to an early first quarter lead and kept Seneca at arms length the remainder of the way.
Nevada quickly went in front 3-0 via Payge Dahmer’s 3-point swish from the left corner.
Utilizing a frenzied full-court press from the opening moments of the game Nevada forced several early turnovers and led 17-9 at the conclusion of the opening frame.
With their offense sped-up by Nevada’s full-court press and half-court traps, Seneca concluded the first half shooting 15 percent from the field and trailed, 29-19.
The Lady Tigers, however, endured an extended offensive drought early in the second half as Seneca held them scoreless for the first three and a half minutes of the third.
With the contest tightening and Nevada’s advantage shrinking to five points, the Lady Tigers received a surprise offensive boost from Lindley Ferry as the 5-foot-10 junior froward knocked down back-to-back 15-foot jumpers, then stretched Nevada’s advantage to 37-27 with an offensive-board and lay-in.
Nevada held a 40-30 lead entering the final frame when Lady Tiger point guard Calli Beshore took matters into her own hands, dropping in nine fourth quarter points. Most of the offensive production came on hard slashing drives to the basket, followed by trips to the charity stripe, as the star junior guard calmly sank 6-of-8 free throws in the fourth quarter en route to a game-high 22 points.
Back-to-back triples from Dahmer and Beshore early in the fourth pushed Nevada’s lead to 46-30. A late push by Seneca was snuffed out by a technical foul as a Seneca player applied a hard foul to Beshore on a driving lay-in, and was then hit with the technical for verbal warfare as Beshore lay on the floor under the basket.
All six of Beshore’s free throw makes came down the stretch, and put the tournament championship on ice.
“I was very proud of our girls,” said Bartlett. “It was a hard-fought game, a very physical game. We’ve proven we can play physical, we’ve proven we can play finesse — and we’ve proven that we can play fast.”
Bartlett said free throws and overall depth were the two biggest factors in Thursday night’s triumph.
“I thought our team-depth won the game for us,” summed up Bartlett. “We got big minutes from Ty Heathman and Lindley Ferry off the bench.”
Ferry’s third quarter offensive flurry resulted in a varsity career-high 15 points. “What a breakout game (Lindley) had,” said Bartlett.”
It was Beshore, however, who, on the biggest stage, stole the show.
“For three nights she busted her tail,” began Bartlett. “With steals, and rebounds, and defense — and finally, kind of had a breakout (offensive) game. You don’t want to get Calli fired up. I thought she put it in another gear tonight, and did a super-job of penetrating and getting our girls in the right spot.”
Added Bartlett: “And Alison getting tournament MVP, I’m very proud of her, because I know what type of person she is, and how hard she works.”
Despite the pair of fourth quarter tech’s assessed to Seneca, Bartlett had nothing but praise for the tournament runner-up.
“Seneca was well-coached, and played well,” said Bartlett.
Bartlett said he was pleased with how his club re-grouped in the midst of the technical fouls.
“Sometimes, there’s teams that are going to try to bully you, and play physical if they can’t keep up with you,” explained Bartlett. “And you can’t let that effect you. You have to keep a straight face, you have to do your talking on the court. But our girls don’t back down. I’ve learned that from them —they love each other. I thought we kept our composure, and we regrouped entering the fourth.”
After steamrolling through the tournament with a trio of sparkling double-digit victories, the Lady Tigers move to 3-0 on the young season.
After the contest Bower shared her thoughts on collecting the tourney MVP.
“It’s pretty big,” said the star sophomore. “But I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my teammates. We always come into practice and goof around and have fun, but we know what we have to do when it’s time to show up and play basketball. I couldn’t have gotten this without my teammates.”
Said Beshore: “It was a really physical game, but we’ve been practicing for this, so we were prepared for it, and I was proud of how we kept our calm throughout the game.”
Beshore said winning the championship “feels amazing.”
“My freshman year here we took fifth, and last year, third,” recounted Beshore. “We all decided last year that we wanted to win this year, and so to do it is an amazing feeling.”