After a solid shooting night to score 61 points in a win over Joplin, the McDonald County High School girls' basketball team struggled to put the ball in the basket in a 50-42 loss to Neosho in the consolation finals of the Freeman Sports Medicine CJ Classic on Dec. 5 at Carl Junction High School.
The Lady Mustangs made only 11 of 27 free throws (40 percent) and shot less than 25 percent from the field against the Lady Wildcats.
"It was one of those things where we shot a poor percentage," said coach Chris Kennedy. "We got the shots we wanted, but just couldn't knock them down. We got behind, but we fought real hard to get back in the game. If we could have hit some free throws down the stretch, it could have been a different game."
McDonald County jumped out to a 10-5 lead midway through the first period behind six points from Rita Santillan and four from Kristen Penn.
But Neosho answered by scoring the final 11 points of the quarter to take a 16-10 lead at the end of the period.
The Lady Wildcats stretched the margin to 26-16 at halftime and to 37-23 after three quarters before McDonald County clawed its way back into the game to begin the fourth.
The Lady Mustangs opened the final period with a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 37-30 with 5:17 left in the game. Two free throws by Ragan Wilson with 2:02 left got McDonald County within five at 41-36.
But Neosho got loose for back-to-back layups on its next two possessions to restore its lead to nine points and was able to trade baskets the rest of the way as the Lady Mustangs missed seven free throws in the final period.
Santillan finished with 17 points to lead McDonald County. Jaylie Sanny added eight points. Ragan Wilson had seven, followed by Penn with six and Laney Wilson and Samara Smith with two each.
Maile Gindling led Neosho with 11 points.
McDonald County fell to 1-2 for the season heading into its Dec. 12 game at Rogers in the 23rd Annual Lady Freeman Classic at Joplin High School.
Joplin
McDonald County picked up its first win of the season in a 61-40 win on Dec. 3 in the consolation semifinals of the CJ Classic.
Penn scored nine points and Santillan five in the first quarter to help the Lady Mustangs jump out to a 20-13 lead after the first period.
Joplin cut the margin to 26-24 at halftime, but McDonald County outscored Joplin 35-16 in the second half to pull away for the win.
Santillan scored 19 points and Penn 17 to lead McDonald County. Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Mustangs were Smith with eight points, Ragan Wilson seven, Caitlyn Barton four and Sanny, Laney Wilson and Sydney Killion with two each.
Brooks Nice and Ella Hafer led Joplin with 11 points each.
Sports on 12/12/2019