NEOSHO, Mo. — A poor start was too much to overcome for the Neosho girls basketball team on Thursday afternoon.
As a result, the host Wildcats suffered a 51-27 setback to St. Joseph Lafayette in the third-place game of the Neosho Holiday Classic.
Plagued by cold shooting and a number of costly turnovers, the Wildcats found themselves down 35-9 at halftime.
Neosho won the second half 18-16, but Lafayette’s lead was never in jeopardy after the break.
“Athletically, we didn’t match up with them and they were a little quicker than we were,” Neosho coach Ryan Madison said. “Give them credit. They’ve got some long, quick athletes that can get in you a little bit and put pressure on you. But so do a lot of the teams we’re going to play this season. We went to a zone in the second quarter and I probably kept us in that too long. I didn’t do the best job I could do to give the kids a chance to win tonight. I’ll take the heat on that, and hopefully we’ll play better in our next game.”
Neosho’s sister act of Beclynn and Maelynn Garrett combined to score 20 of the Wildcats’ 27 points.
A freshman, Beclynn Garrett scored 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting. She hit two treys.
A junior, Maelynn Garrett added eight points after making 4-of-8 shot attempts. Maelynn Garrett also had a team-high five rebounds.
Junior Reagan McInturff had four assists and classmate Raine Harris had two steals. The Wildcats made 11-of-27 field goal attempts and went 3-for-11 at the foul line.
“The free throw line killed us,” Madison said. “Early in the game, if we could have got some of those to go down it could have kept us in the game.”
Lafayette made 20-of-39 shots, including six 3-pointers. Talicia Rice scored 13 points to lead the Irish, while Honor Mannings contributed 10 points, five steals and four assists.
The Irish (7-4) scored 27 points off Neosho’s 18 turnovers and had nearly half of their total points in the paint (24).
Lafayette led 16-5 at the end of the first quarter and the Irish outscored the Wildcats 19-4 in the second period for a 26-point halftime cushion.
In the opening half, Neosho made just 3-of-12 field goal attempts while also turning the ball over 11 times against Lafayette’s aggressive pressure defense.
Neosho won the third period 8-5 before the Irish outscored the Wildcats 11-10 in the final frame.
“I thought we picked it up in the second half,” Madison said. “I thought we guarded a lot better in the third quarter. I thought we did some good things in the second half. We put the ball in the bucket better in the second half, too.”
Madison coached against his former program and his former assistant (Ryan Spinner), as he spent eight seasons in charge of the Lady Irish.
“Coach Spinner does a great job and I was blessed to have him on my staff for eight years,” Madison said. “I know a few of those girls pretty well. It was a little bittersweet to play them. I’m happy for them and I hope they can get a lot of wins this season.”
After going 1-2 in the tournament, the Wildcats are now 5-6 on the season.
Madison hopes to see continued progress as the 2022 portion of the schedule arrives next week.
“We had glimpses where we did some good things,” Madison said of the three games. “We’re so much better defensively than we were a year ago. I think we’re doing a better job of rebounding. Those were the first things we wanted to fix…the defensive side and rebounding. Now we have to take care of the ball better. Our ball security has to get better. I do think these last few games have helped us. We would have liked to do better in our own tournament, but I’m still proud of the kids. There are some great girls in that locker room. Hopefully we can rebound and keep getting better all year.”
NOTES: Neosho’s McInturff was crowned the girls 3-point champion on Wednesday night, with teammate Beclynn Garrett the runner-up. The annual tournament is sponsored by Branco Enterprises.
