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Back-to-Back-to-Back: Lady Tigers power past Grandview en route to district championship three-peat
Harrisonville — Thursday night's 65-44 statement victory over the Grandview Lady Bulldogs propelled the Nevada Lady Tigers to their third consecutive district crown, and a berth in the Class 4 state hoops tournament.
On tap for the Lady Tigers is a sectional-round clash with either Grain Valley or Kansas City Center on Tuesday, March 10, in Lee's Summit.
Second-seeded Grandview led No. 1 seed Nevada 3-0 in the early-going. The Lady Tigers then turned up the defensive pressure, forcing several turnovers that culminated with a 15-2 run.
"We had three turnovers to start the game, and I thought we were a little nervous right there," said Nevada head coach Brent Bartlett. "I thought their length kind of bothered us the first three possessions, and then we kind of calmed down."
Lady Tiger junior guard Tylin Heathman capped off Nevada's dominant first quarter with a three from the top of the key, and an 18-7 advantage.
Heathman opened the second with a close-range bucket, but Grandview responded with a 6-0 run, courtesy of back-to-back 3-balls from Cierra Smith and Ciaira Martinez, trimming the deficit to 20-13.
Nevada struck back with a 10-0 run, sparked by Payge Dahmer's deep three from the top of the key, and Heathman's offensive rebound put-back to salvage a three-on-two fastbreak.
The Lady Tigers increased their advantage to 35-15 via Alison Bower's mid-range baseline jumper, followed by point guard Calli Beshore's trey from the left wing.
Grandview quickly closed the deficit to 15, but the red-hot Heathman doused their mini-run, burying a triple and pushing the lead to 38-20. Nevada would eventually settle for a 16-point halftime edge.
Nevada (23-4) opened the second half with a bang, as a Beshore steal led to a Bower three and a commanding 41-22 lead.
Lindley Ferry joined the scoring action, as back-to-back buckets by the senior forward kept the Lady Tiger advantage at 20. Heathman's 12-foot pull-up jumper swelled Nevada's lead to 47-25 at the midpoint of the third. Grandview closed the frame on a 6-1 spurt, but trailed 48-31 entering the fourth.
A bizarre sequence early in the fourth, in which Grandview parlayed multiple missed free throws and offensive rebounds into a four-point play, closed the gap to 13 with 6:50 remaining in regulation. Nevada continued to keep Grandview at arms length, as Dahmer's knifing lay-in and Beshore's right-wing three put Nevada on top, 53-35.
The Lady Tigers then salted the contest away from the charity stripe, as Heathman went four-for-four on consecutive trips to the line, where she had one-and-ones, followed by Dahmer, who also came up clutch on her one-and-one attempts. Nevada finished 10-of-12 from the free throw line in the fourth.
Dahmer concluded with a game-high 18 points. Also registering double-figure scoring totals for Nevada were Heathman (16), Bower (15), and Beshore (12).
"We competed extremely hard, probably the best game we've played all year as a team," said an elated Bartlett. "I think we're playing our best basketball right now. Just a great team win, we had four girls in double-figure scoring. That's what makes this team so special, you can't just concentrate on one or two people, we've got a lot of people that can score."
Throughout the bulk of the past three seasons Nevada's offensive output has been dominated by Beshore, Dahmer, and Bower. That, however, has changed as of late, as junior shooting guard Heathman has been on an offensive tear, adding a new dimension to the Lady Tiger offense, while taking pressure off their original big three.
"She's playing unbelievable," Bartlett said. "She's always had that athletic ability, and she's been working hard on her shooting. She's very aggressive with the basketball, she's going to make some mistakes, but she will do more positive things than negative. I'm real proud of her. She can penetrate, score, and dish."
Lady Tiger head coach Brent Bartlett said defensive intensity keyed his club's convincing victory, adding that he strongly emphasized the importance of boxing out and rebounding against a Grandview team that boasted much size and length.
Back in early November the Lady Tigers elected to go with "Lets make history" as their motto.
"I (had previously) never coached teams that had won two conference championships back-to-back — we've done that now," said Bartlett, now in his 22nd and final season as the Lady Tiger head coach. "And I had never had teams that won three district championships back-to-back-to-back, and we've accomplished that."
Bartlett continued: "I told them 'lets keep adding to our history, and just keep the ball rolling, and stay hot.'"
Bartlett said this group is deeply special to him.
"This team is incredibly special to me," he said. "They've brought so much joy and happiness to me, when it comes to coaching basketball, over the last four years. I was kind of going through a dry-spot there, as far as the joy — and this team has brought it back to me. The juniors and seniors mean an awful lot to me, and I've gotten really close with the freshmen and sophomores."
Summed up Bartlett: "They'll probably never know what they've done for me."
Said star junior guard Bower of the victory: "It was a big win, we know we made some history. We're just playing like we don't want it to end. We've got to keep making shots, keep playing as a team, and keep playing Nevada Lady Tiger basketball."