CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — A pair of underclassmen led Carl Junction to a thrilling overtime victory in its season opener, while Joplin and Neosho both improved to 3-0 with their respective victories on Monday night at the Freeman Sports Medicine Carl Junction Classic girls basketball tournament.
On the tourney’s opening night, Carl Junction edged Nevada 60-59 in overtime, Joplin defeated McDonald County 34-25 and Neosho topped Seneca 52-44. In other action, Nixa beat the Carl Junction JV 95-4.
In Tuesday’s semifinals, Nixa meets Neosho at 7, while Joplin takes on Carl Junction at 8:30.
In Tuesday’s consolation action, Seneca meets the Carl Junction JV at 4, while McDonald County plays Nevada at 5:30.
CARL JUNCTION 60, NEVADA 59
A sophomore and a freshman led the way as the new-look Bulldogs extended the program’s winning streak to 29 after pulling out an overtime nail-biter.
“It wasn’t pretty, but we got it done,” Carl Junction coach Brad Shorter said. “Nevada’s a good team with a lot of good pieces. They’re similar to us in that they lost a lot of good kids to graduation. I thought all of our kids played pretty hard. We had some unforced turnovers that we have to eliminate. And we have to rebound better than we did tonight.”
Sophomore guard Destiny Buerge poured in 30 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter. The team’s lone returning starter, the 5-foot-6 Buerge made seven field goals, including two treys, and 14-of-22 free throws.
“Destiny is capable of playing even better,” Shorter said. “She kind of quit shooting for awhile, and she can’t do that. She’s too good of a shooter to pass up shots.”
Freshman Kylie Scott added 14 points in her prep debut, including all six of her team’s points in the extra session.
“She didn’t play like a freshman,” Shorter said. “And that was big. I’m proud of her. And I think she’s just going to keep getting better and better as the year goes on.”
Carl Junction made 30-of-51 free throw attempts in a game that featured 56 fouls.
Nevada’s Tylin Heathman scored 23 points before fouling out. The Tigers hit eight 3-pointers and made 15-of-22 free throws for new head coach Blake Howarth.
The game was tied at 12 at the end of the first quarter and deadlocked at 28 at halftime. The Bulldogs led 38-37 after three periods, but the Tigers caught fire from beyond the arc, hitting four treys in the final frame. Nevada forced overtime when Heathman hit two clutch free throws with 20 seconds.
Carl Junction finished the game without its two most-experienced players, as both Jessa Hylton and Buerge fouled out.
Nevada led 57-55 with just over a minute to play after Abbey Heathman made 1-of-2 foul shots.
The Bulldogs went ahead for good when Scott converted a game-changing, old-fashioned 3-point play with 48 seconds left. The 6-1 Scott was fouled while scoring on a putback. She then made the go-ahead free throw.
“That play was huge,” Shorter said. “Kylie kept playing hard all game. She adapted pretty quickly to the physical play of the game.”
Nevada turned the ball over on the ensuing possession, with Scott picking off a pass attempt in the lane and drawing a foul with 15.5 seconds left.
The younger sister of Megan and Katie Scott came up clutch at the charity stripe, connecting on both attempts for a 60-57 advantage.
Nevada’s Abby Harder scored at the buzzer for the final margin.
“I’m proud of our kids for fighting,” Shorter said. “Our returning two kids who had the most minutes on our 28-0 team were both out for the last four minutes of the game. Our kids stayed with it.”
JOPLIN 34, MCDONALD COUNTY 25
Don’t look now, but the Joplin Eagles are 3-0.
The Eagles made 8-of-12 free throws in the fourth quarter and limited the Mustangs to 10 second-half points.
“We told the girls that it was an ugly game and a win is a win, but if we keep defending like we are capable of, we’ll have a chance,” Joplin coach Luke Floyd said. “They’ve bought into playing defense and that’s keeping us in games so far. Our offense is going to improve as the season goes on and as we get more comfortable to the system we’re trying to run. Defensively, we’re good to go right now. They’re really busting their tails on the defensive end.”
Junior forward Emma Floyd led Joplin with 13 points and classmate Ella Hafer scored 11 points in her first game of the season.
“She’s a great athlete and a great basketball player,” Coach Floyd said of Hafer. “Anytime you get an athlete of her caliber on the floor, it means a lot. And when she’s on the floor, it gives the other girls a boost emotionally.”
Hafer, who is coming back from a knee injury, left the game in the fourth quarter after an awkward fall, possibly tweaking her knee in the process.
“Hopefully, it’s just a minor setback and she’ll be ready to go soon,” Coach Floyd said.
Isabella Yust added seven points for the Eagles.
Kristen Penn scored 11 points to lead the Mustangs. (0-1), who came out in an aggressive trapping zone defense.
“We just had to calm down,” Floyd said of facing the zone. “We have so many little things we can fine-tune offensively. We need to be stronger with the basketball. We did a lot better job in the second half. We tried to space them out a little more and spread that zone out a little bit. That seemed to help. More than anything, the girls made the adjustment of staying more athletic with the basketball.”
Emma Floyd scored five straight points to end the first quarter and Joplin led 11-7. The Mustangs outscored the Eagles 8-4 in the low-scoring second quarter, and the game was tied at 15 at the break.
A back-and-forth third period ended with Joplin clinging to a two-point advantage.
The Mustangs pulled within two after a hoop from Adasyn Leach, but Joplin ended the game on an 8-1 run, with all eight points coming at the charity stripe.
Brynn Driver, Serafina Auberry, Yust and Emma Floyd all made late free throws.
“We made just enough to keep my hair in,” Floyd said.
NEOSHO 52, SENECA 44
The Wildcats stayed unbeaten under new head coach Ryan Madison by knocking off the Indians for the second straight week. Neosho topped Seneca 52-47 a week earlier.
“It’s tough playing the same team in a week, and they’ve got some nice players,” Madison said. “Overall, I’m thrilled we came out with the win. We’ll take it.”
Senior guard Olivia Hixson led Neosho with 18 points, hitting four 3-pointers. Hixson scored 16 in the first half and dealt with a box-and-one defense after the break.
“They went to the box-and-one, but we had some other girls step up and score for us,” Madison said.
Reagan McInturff scored 13 points for the Wildcats, while Raine Harris added nine and Baylie Bowers had seven.
Junior guard Aliya Grotjohn paced Seneca with 12 points, while Parker Long added nine.
The Wildcats led 22-15 at the end of the first quarter and 33-26 at intermission.
Seneca trimmed its lead to four late in the third period after hoops from Grotjohn and Samarah Mittag, but Neosho’s Taigen Mitchell drilled a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to give the Wildcats a 42-35 advantage heading into the final frame.
Seneca pulled within three on Grotjohn’s layup with 1:43 remaining, but the Indians would not score again.
Neosho’s Hixson made one free throw, Bowers made a layup and then McInturff scored on an out of bounds play to finish off the win.
“I thought we defended pretty poorly in the first half,” Madison said. “But I thought from the middle of the third quarter through the fourth quarter we guarded pretty well.”
