Sunday, December 13, 2020

Tiger Girls Win Third Straight; Drop Nodaway-Holt 43-35

 Worth County’s girls won their third straight game, 43-35 over Nodaway-Holt Friday as they continued to forge their new identity; they continued to pressure the ball, get tips and steals, and get balanced scoring.

Like the Mound City game, Worth County went up against a big front line in Shaina Culp and Chloe Jenkins, The Trojans return everyone from last year’s squad that was competitive with a lot of teams. But Worth County once again used their depth to their advantage, getting a big third quarter to pull away and then hold off Nodaway-Holt’s frantic attempts to get back in the game.

Both teams tried to run each other out of the gym, similar to the Mound City game; Braidy Hunt had the hot hand early for the Tigers, while Kynah Steele had a three point play and Morgan Beagle and EmiLee Brown chipped in. Nodaway-Holt broke through the press several times as the teams started off evenly matched, with Worth County up 10-8 late in the first.

The Tigers pushed ahead to a 15-8 lead early in the second as EmiLee Brown hit two free throws off a drive, Braidy Hunt scored her sixth point in the first at the buzzer off a drive after Megan Cassavaugh inbounded, and then Kynah Steele hit a free throw to start the second. Nodaway-Holt tried to throw a 2-2-1 press at Worth County, but the Tigers forced them out of it by the second quarter.

Despite Braidy Hunt picking up her third foul in the second quarter, Worth County continued to stay ahead in the second and Megan Cassavaugh hit Justina Wimer for three late to put the Tigers up 24-16 at the half.

Braidy Hunt came back to score her 10th point, Megan Cassavaugh got a steal and fed Morgan Beagle, Jill Hardy hit a 3-pointer from the baseline off a pass from Elizabeth Brown, and Hardy drove the baseline and scored off a pass from Megan Cassavaugh to make it 33-16 as Worth County kept the red shirts off the board for a big stretch of the third quarter. Morgan Beagle played lights-out defense despite guarding Shaina Culp; she had four steals in the period and the Trojans had a hard time throwing anything over or past her all night long.

Kara Staton converted a 3-point play to make it 38-20, but then Nodaway-Holt began to rally after Beagle picked up her fourth foul, Culp got loose, and the Trojans hit a 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer to make it 38-25.

Nodaway-Holt got it to within 38-27 to start the fourth, but then Kynah Steele kicked one out to Justina Wimer for three, and Megan Cassavaugh got a steal off the press and got it to Morgan Beagle to make it 43-29 with three minutes left. The Trojans could afford to be very aggressive with only three fouls, but Worth County bled huge chunks of time off the clock, and Nodaway-Holt didn’t get it under double digits until the closing seconds.

Braidy Hunt had 10 points to lead the Tigers. Morgan Beagle had 8, Justina Wimer 6, EmiLee Brown, Kara Staton, and Jill Hardy 5 each, and Kynah Steele 4.

Morgan Beagle had 7 boards. EmiLee Brown had 6, Kynah Steele and Braidy Hunt 5 each, Kara Staton 4, and Jill Hardy 3. 

Megan Cassavaugh had 8 assists. EmiLee Brown, Jill Hardy, and Elizabeth Brown had 2 each, and Justin Wimer and Kynah Steele had 1 each.

Jill Hardy had 7 tips. Braidy Hunt, Megan Cassavaugh, and Morgan Beagle had 5 each, Kara Staton 4, Kynah Steele 3, EmiLee Brown 2, and Elizabeth Brown and Taylor Sanders 1.

Jill Hardy had 8 steals. Megan Cassavaugh and Morgan Beagle had 4 each, Braidy Hunt 2, and EmiLee Brown, Kynah Steele, and Kara Staton 1.


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