Lady Mustangs Fall to 0-9

RICK PECK/SPECIAL TO MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS McDonald County's Ragan Wilson goes in for a layup as Neosho's Caitlyn Johnson (22) and Mary Dunbar (5) look on during the Lady Mustangs' 54-30 loss on Dec. 28 in the opening round of the 63rd Neosho Holiday Classic.

RICK PECK/SPECIAL TO MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS McDonald County's Ragan Wilson goes in for a layup as Neosho's Caitlyn Johnson (22) and Mary Dunbar (5) look on during the Lady Mustangs' 54-30 loss on Dec. 28 in the opening round of the 63rd Neosho Holiday Classic.

Thursday, January 4, 2018

McDonald County scored the first seven points of the game and held the lead for the game's first 29 minutes and 16 seconds only to see St. Joseph Central outscore the Lady Mustangs, 15-4, in the fourth quarter to pull out a 46-40 win on Dec. 30 in the seventh-place game of the 63rd annual Neosho Holiday Classic.

After scoring seven straight points to open the game, McDonald County built a 15-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Central scored the first six points of the second quarter before Megan Mills hit one of two free throws for the Lady Mustangs. McDonald County stretched its lead to 22-15 late in the quarter, but the Lady Indians closed the gap to 26-23 at halftime.

McDonald County seemingly took control of the game early in the third quarter, outscoring Central 10-2 to take a 36-25 lead with 1:27 left in the third quarter when Ragan Wilson hit four consecutive free throws. The sophomore guard hit both ends of a two-shot foul and followed that with both ends of a one-and-one when she was fouled after her making second free throw.

But Central scored the final six points of the third period to cut the margin to 36-31 entering the fourth quarter.

The Lady Indians Courtney Newman opened the fourth quarter with an old-fashioned three-point play before Kristin Penn hit a short jumper and Wilson made another free throw to stretch the lead back to five points.

Central answered with a 10-0 run, including Grace Moody's three-pointer that gave the Lady Indians a 41-39 lead with 2:44 remaining, to take a 44-39 lead with 19.5 seconds left.

Mills made one of two free throws with 18.5 seconds, but Lauren Eiman sealed the win for Central with a short jumper with six seconds left.

"We got off to a great start and it was one of our better games offensively," said coach Blake Short. "Honestly, that team is better than several teams we have played. We come out a time-out after talking about taking care of the ball and we go shoot a couple of quick all-balance drives that we had literally just talked about not doing. We also had a couple of turnovers on inbounds. We are really struggling getting the ball inbounded at times and our opponents are turning it into points. Overall, we played really well and the girls played really hard. The game got a little 'chippie' and we fought through it and we really didn't get involved in that. It's a tough one to lose. If we shoot the ball like we did today, we've got good things to come. It's one we'd like to have had, but we just couldn't finish the deal."

Mills finished with 10 points and Wilson nine to lead McDonald County. Rita Santillan added seven points, followed by Sam Frazier and Penn with six each and Jaylie Sanny with two.

Eiman finished with 10 points to lead Central.

The Lady Mustangs fall to 0-9 for the season heading into their Jan. 4 game against Lamar at MCHS.

Neosho

McDonald County opened the tournament with a 54-30 loss to Neosho.

The Lady Mustangs were limited to 14 points through three quarters, including just four points in the first period and three in the third.

Neosho built a 29-11 led at halftime and stretched the margin to 44-14 entering the fourth quarter.

Mills and Wilson scored eight points each to lead McDonald County, followed by Frazier, Aspen Bowman and Addison Mick with four each and Penn with two.

Neosho was led by Allison Burr with 13 points.

St. Joseph Lafayette

McDonald County was held to two points in the first quarter and 16 through three periods in a 43-29 loss to St. Joseph Lafayette on Dec. 29.

Lafayette's Jada Johnson provided a glimpse of things to come when she opened the game with a three-pointer, one of six by the 5-7 senior guard, who finished with a game-high 18 points.

The fighting Irish led 9-2 at the end of the first quarter and 23-9 at halftime before Johnson hit three treys in a row to close out the third quarter to give Lafayette a 37-16 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Frazier led the Lady Mustangs with 11 points, followed by Santillan and Wilson with six each, Mills three, Penn two and Bowman one.

Santillan recorded 10 steals to lead the tournament, while Frazier had seven to take fourth. Mills shot 18 free throws in the Lady Mustangs' three games and Wilson 17 to place second and third, respectively. Mills made 10 of her charities to take third place. Wilson was third in minutes played per game (30), while Penn was fifth in offensive rebounds with eight.

Sports on 01/04/2018