Worth County's girls dropped their first game of the year, a 36-31 loss to Avenue City in the semifinal round of the Northeast Nodaway Tournament. However, they recovered to take third place Friday night, using a 23-0 run to erase an early deficit against North Nodaway and win 40-23.
Sami Jackson's Mustangs came into Friday's game a vastly improved squad after giving up 30 unanswered points to Worth County in their first meeting. But it was a totally different group that took the floor; they were attacking the middle of the press, they were going to the rim, and they were keeping up with the Tigers. Baskets by Jadon Dobbins, Karlie Emery, and Kandance Damgar put the Mustangs up 6-2 before Kaylee McElvain scored over three defenders and Anna Gladstone hit a runner to tie it at 6 after one quarter.
After that, North Nodaway got into foul trouble, and Worth County had their way with them in the second quarter. Anna Gladstone carried the team on her back in the period, getting 10 of the team's 20 points, starting with a play where Regan Allee threw her a breathtaking bounce pass from the opposite side 3-point line for a layup. Anna scored from inside and facilitated the next basket when she grabbed a defensive board and got a quick outlet to Kristin New, who threw ahead to Kaylee for the finish. Gladstone got loose again behind the North Nodaway defense for a pass from New, and later added a free throw to make it 15-6. Regan Allee and Kristin New jumped passes for layups, Jill Hardy scored from inside off a pass from Allee, Regan got a steal and hit Kristin New for a layup, Anna Gladstone got a putback, and then finished her quarter by taking on three defenders and turning it into a free throw to put Worth County up 26-8 at the half.
Merrideth Spiers got on the board in the third quarter with a pair of putbacks, one of which resulted in a 3-point play; Anna Gladstone went coast to coast following a block from Spiers and added a steal and layup, and Spiers hit a perfect high-low pass to Regan Allee for a layup. Coach Josh Smith subbed freely in the fourth quarter as Megan Cassavaugh hit Maddie Taute for an inside shot and Braidy Hunt hit a free throw.
For Worth County, Anna Gladstone had a season-high 16 points to lead the Tigers. Kaylee McElvain had 6, Merrideth Spiers had 5, Kristin New and Regan Allee 4 each, Jill Hardy and Maddie Taute 2 each, and Braidy Hunt 1.
For North Nodaway, Kandance Damgar had 10, Jadon Dobbins had 6, Shai Dailey had 5, and Karlie Emery had 2. Emery took a charge on defense.
Worth County shot 1 for its first 19 against Avenue City, but was fortunate to still be in the game as they started getting to the line after getting down 10-2 early in the second. They got 8 of their 12 first half points from the line as they fought back from a 16-6 deficit late in the half to trail 16-12. Avenue City pulled away again, getting a 28-16 lead at the third quarter buzzer, but then Anna Gladstone had her best quarter of the year, carrying the team on her back in the fourth and scoring 10 points before fouling out. But the Tigers didn't quit, as Kaylee McElvain took on two taller defenders and got the call, hitting both free throws with 58 seconds left to tie it at 31. But then Kenna O'Riley hit a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left from well behind the line to put the Aces back up three and Jozlin Bennett hit two free throws with 2.3 seconds left after Worth County couldn't answer.
Anna Gladstone led the Tigers with 12 points in the effort. Jill Hardy and Regan Allee had 6 each. Kaylee McElvain had 4, while Kristin New had 3.
No comments:
Post a Comment