The third time was a charm for the Worth County girls as they won 46-34 over Stanberry for Senior Night Tuesday. Worth County had fallen twice to Stanberry earlier in the year before they finally came back and won the third time around. It was their seventh win of the year, and one badly needed after dropping three straight road games.
The difference this time around was the fact that Worth County was able to control the tempo this time around. Stanberry is a stingy half-court defensive team; however, Worth County was able to get some good transition looks on them before they could get set on defense. They only shot 11 for 50 from the field, but they held Stanberry to 7 for 48 and were able to win on the free throw line, making 21 free throws to 10 for Stanberry, which missed a ton. Worth County had some of their best free throw shooting of the year, going 21 for 32.
The Tigers scored the first seven points of the game in the first 1:09, getting an inside shot from Kaitlyn Davidson, a kickout from Kacey Smyser to Claire Andrews for a 3-pointer, and a steal from Rebecca Moore off the press. Stanberry settled down and began chipping away, getting to within two on a 3-pointer by Stephanie Luke early in the second quarter. But then Sydney Thummel hit Kaitlyn Davidson inside again and Kacey Smyser, who had been scoreless up to that point, hit a long shot from the right wing with a defender all over her, which seemingly gave her a lift. Worth County began pulling away at that point, using stingy defense and solid offense to pull away to a 22-14 halftime lead.
But third quarters have not been kind to Worth County, which saw a similar lead evaporate against Stanberry earlier in the year. However, despite hacking and fouling their way to a 7-2 foul deficit by the 4:34 mark, they settled down and played through it, getting free throws from Smyser and a putback from Kaitlyn to maintain a 29-21 lead late in the third quarter. Then, fate gave a push in Worth County's direction. Some boys were getting the balls out and bouncing them around and one of them got away and referee Dan Gallagher blew the whistle and stopped play -- right before Stanberry hit a 3-pointer that would have cut it to five and given them momentum going into the fourth. Instead, Worth County stole a pass and Kacey Smyser hit a shot from the high post at the buzzer to give Worth County a 34-24 lead after three. It was a five point swing in favor of the Tigers and the girls had outscored Stanberry in the third quarter, the frame they had always had trouble with.
Stanberry cut it twice to seven early in the fourth, but Kacey Smyser would not let them come back, getting free throws off an offensive board and then getting behind the defense as Stanberry was frantically trying to get the ball back as Worth County got it back into double digits again at 38-27. Kristen Andrews followed with a putback, Haven Schottel hit two free throws, and Sydney Thummel scored off a Kacey Smyser offensive board as Worth County built up an insurmountable 44-27 lead with 3:34 left.
In between games, members of the boys and girls basketball teams as well as the dance team were recognized. Rebecca Moore, Kacey Smyser, Haven Schottel for the girls; Bryce Ross and Grant Parman for the boys; and Shelby Goacher, Sidney Davenport, and Kiley Reynolds for the dance team were honored.
The frustrations continued for the boys team as they looked like they had come to play against Stanberry, taking an early 10-8 lead at the 4:01 mark of the first quarter. But things fell apart from there as Worth County cooled off on offense and did not have an answer for Stanberry's big men on defense as they fell 72-33 as the game became a layup drill after that. Frustrations reached a peak in the second half when the Tigers were called for another intentional foul.
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