Amazing Tigers Win!!

It was a long time coming -- the Worth County girls had been knocking on heaven's door and were denied entrance for the whole season. But with four games to spare, the Tigers finally put everything together and got their first win of the season, forcing the reporter to the barber shop the next day. Worth County used one of their most productive quarters of the year, a 15-point outburst in the third period, to stun Ridgeway 36-27 in Friday night action.

Worth County scored four quick points at the start of the game as Haley Green scored from inside and Jessica Borey drove down the right baseline. For the rest of the quarter, neither team could establish control. Ridgeway, at 13-5, had every reason to believe they could beat the Tigers and end a 20+ year losing streak dating back to the 1980's, before all of the players were born. Back then, Ronald Reagan was in the White House, the Soviet Union was still around, Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics were an NBA powerhouse, Wayne Winstead was coaching at Northwest Missouri State, and area coaching legends Claude Samson and Donnie Edwards were dominating area basketball at Northeast Nodaway and Jefferson respectively.

Ridgeway tried to follow the lead of every other opponent who had beaten the Tigers -- they put on a fullcourt press and hoped the turnovers and layups would follow. But the world seemingly turned upside down as it was the Tigers who were handling the press while it was Ridgeway who was committing the kind of silly mistakes and fouls that doomed the Tigers throughout their season. Worth County missed a ton of shots in the early going, keeping Ridgeway close; however, the Tigers would not let Hannah Booth, the Owls' best player, take over the game, holding her to 8 points. Jessica Borey stuffed her in the second quarter and then hit a 3-pointer as Worth County took its biggest lead so far at 10-5 with 7:08 left in the second. Ridgeway crept closer, cutting the deficit to 10-8. But they were in danger as Jessie Joiner picked up three quick fouls in the first period; Ridgeway had only five players, meaning that were someone to foul out, they would have to finish with four. Worth County put on a half-court trap and responded with a scoring spurt as Brooke Gilland burned the press for a layup, Jessica Borey hit a pair of free throws, and Gilland added with a take to the rack as someone for the Owls forgot where they were supposed to be at. But Ridgeway crept closer, trailing only 16-12 at the break after they made some adjustments and broke the trap with some quick passing.

It was time to hold one's breath as the Tigers had led opponents before, only to be done in as the game wore on. But Worth County played some opportunistic basketball as they put together one of their best quarters of the year. Borey opened the period with a 3-pointer from the right side. The Tigers were still missing shots, but they were playing solid defense, only allowing the Owls one shot down the court. Brooke Gilland, playing her best game all year, hauled in a ton of boards for the Tigers on both ends, including a putback that made it 21-13 with 4:54 left in the third. Ashley Reynolds added an inside shot off an inbounds play and a free throw, and the Tigers were up 24-13. At that point, Ridgeway's players had the looks of a team that knew that they were beat.

Hannah Booth hit an inside shot, but Brooke Adams responded with a shot from the top of the key to make it 26-15. Sidney Ellis then picked up her fourth foul for Ridgeway. At that point, the Tigers showed some of the basketball instincts that Coach April Healy had wanted them to develop all year. Ellis was the bottom player in the 2-3 zone, meaning that she had to guard Haley Green; the Tigers began feeding the ball to Green with an immediate payoff as Ellis went to the bench with her fifth foul, leaving Ridgeway with four players. Rilee Ellis hit a 3-pointer to make it 27-18, but Green hit an inside shot off a feed from Akaysha Ragan and Adams hit a shot from the right wing. In the fourth quarter, Jessica Borey hit a free throw, Green hit an inside shot off a fast break, and Jessica Garrett hit an inside shot with 3:18 left to give Worth County its largest lead at 36-20 before Coach Healy turned things over to her JV.