The Nevada Lady Tigers made their first three shots for a 7-0 lead before the McDonald County Lady Mustangs got off a shot on the way to a posting a 53-28 win on Nov. 26 in the first round of the Freeman Sports Medicine C.J. Classic at Carl Junction High School.
"We weren't aggressive enough on defense to start the game," said coach Chris Kennedy, in his first game to lead the Lady Mustangs. "We needed to get out and be more aggressive on the pass and be there on the catch. They got some shots off when we had our hands down. We weren't ready for them to shoot."
Nevada stretched its lead to 13-4 midway through the first quarter before ending the first period with a 19-9 lead.
"They came out and jumped up 13-4, but we settled down and played even with them for the next couple of quarters before they pulled away in the fourth quarter," Kennedy said.
Nevada led 29-16 at halftime and 40-25 after three periods.
Kennedy said at times he thought the Lady Mustangs played decently, but they committed too many turnovers to have a chance to win.
"There were times we did some things that were pretty good, but it just wasn't consistent enough," Kennedy said. "We need to take care of the ball better. I always say it's a point for each turnover and we had 32 turnovers tonight."
McDonald County forced some turnovers by Nevada but wasn't able to take advantage of those opportunities.
"We pressed in the second half and got some turnovers but didn't finish on the end with two points," Kennedy said. "The kids played hard, but we just have to channel that energy into doing things the correct way."
Kristin Penn led a balanced McDonald County scoring attack with six points. Sam Frazier added five points, while Rita Santillan, Alexia Kitlen and Mattie Leach had four each. Ragan Wilson had two points and Sydney Killion and Lily Allman had one each to round out the scoring for the Lady Mustangs.
Nevada's Allison Bower scored 18 points to lead all scorers.
McDonald County struggled at the free-throw line, hitting just five of 14 chances, while Nevada was 12 of 16 from the line.
McDonald County played Neosho on Nov. 28 to close out pool play before facing a team to be determined from the other pool in the finals set for Nov. 29.
The Lady Mustangs' home opener is set for Tuesday, Dec. 4, against Providence Academy. Game time will be approximately 6 p.m. following a junior varsity game that begins at 5 p.m.
Sports on 11/29/2018