The McDonald County Lady Mustangs were held to just nine points in the first half by a stifling man-to-man defense by the Aurora Lady Houns' who handed McDonald County a 39-36 defeat Dec. 11 for its first loss of the season in the Lady Mustangs home opener.
"We started extremely slow offensively and missed some opportunities we have to capitalize on to win a big game," said coach Blake Short. "Our shooting percentage was extremely low for us and part of that was missing shots in the paint that we normally convert."
McDonald County was held to 30 percent shooting from the floor, including a two for 13 (15 percent) effort from behind the three-point line.
Aurora, behind six points by 6-0 sophomore forward Emily Parker, grabbed an 8-4 lead at the end of the first quarter. Older sister Rachel Parker took over to start the second quarter, scoring seven consecutive points for the Lady Houns' to stretch the lead to 15-6 midway through the period. Aurora maintained a nine-point lead, 18-9, at halftime.
McDonald County cut the margin to six points midway through the third quarter, but Emily Parker scored five straight points to give Aurora a 30-19 lead, but McDonald County cut the deficit to 30-23 entering the fourth quarter on baskets by Baili Nelson and Coley Ickes.
Cendy Garcia opened the fourth quarter for the Lady Mustangs with a three-pointer and Preslea Reece and Ickes hit short jumpers sandwiched around a basket by Emily Parker to get McDonald County to within 32-30 with 4:25 left in the game.
But Emily Parker hit back-to-back baskets and Jackie Stephens added a pair of free throws to help Aurora pull out to a 38-30 lead before baskets by Dakota Bunch and Ickes cut the lead to 38-34 with 23 seconds left.
Larissa Pyle-Moore made one of two free throws for Aurora. Reece then scored with three seconds left to cut the lead to one possession at 39-36, but Aurora let the clock run out without bringing the ball inbounds after Reece scored to clinch the win.
"Defensively we did a lot of good things and we rebounded pretty well," Short said. "We just gave them some opportunities at the wrong time and couldn't ever get over the hump. Our baseline defense was not very good at times and it really hurt us. We still had our chances to win the game. We will take this game and use it as a learning tool to build on."
Ickes finished with 17 points, three assists and five steals to lead McDonald County. Reece, closing in on 1,000 points in her high school career, was held to eight points while grabbing six rebounds. Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Mustangs were Garcia with five points, Bunch three, Nelson two and Cheyenne Greenup one. Bunch led McDonald County on the boards with 12 rebounds.
Emily Parker finished with 19 points to lead all scorers.
McDonald County falls to 5-1, 1-1 in the Big 8 Conference, heading into its Dec. 16 game against Pittsburg (Kan.) Colgan. The Lady Mustangs host Mount Vernon tonight in their final game before the Christmas break. Their next game is set for Dec. 29 at the Neosho Holiday Classic.
Sports on 12/18/2014