The Carthage High School girls swim set five school records at the COMO Invitational this past weekend at the Mizzou Aquatic Center in Columbia.
There were 40 teams competing at the two-day event. Carl Junction finished 14th in the team standings with 57 points, while Carthage finished 24th with 25 points.
Carthage coach Braden McBride said Madison Riley set school records in three individual events—the 50-yard freestyle, the 100 freestyle and the 100 butterfly.
A junior, Riley finished sixth in the 100 butterfly in 59.34 seconds. Riley set the 50 and 100 records as the lead leg of the 200 and 400 free relays, McBride noted.
Carthage also set school record times in two relays, the 200 medley (1:58.18) and the 400 freestyle (3:54.6). Aubree Santillan, Cassidy Smith, Hope Fultz and Riley swam on both relays.
The Tigers were 12th in the 200 freestyle relay (1:45.71). Carthage finished 16th in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:58.75.
The top 16 in each preliminary event advanced to the finals.
CARL JUNCTION HIGHLIGHTS
Carl Junction sophomore Chloe Miller placed third in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.15 seconds. Skyler Sundy was fifth in the same event with a time of 24.86.
Sundy also placed fifth in the 100 backstroke (1:00.24), while Miller finished 16th in the 100 freestyle (57.16).
The Bulldogs finished 11th in the 200 medley relay in 1:54.55.
WEBB CITY HIGHLIGHTS
In the invite’s prelims, Webb City’s Sophia Whitesell finished 17th in the 500 freestyle and was 21st in the 200 IM, while Skylar Powell finished 22nd in the 50 free and 31st in the 100 free.
NEOSHO, Mo. — Neosho held a double-digit advantage several times throughout the contest before Willard made a run late to take the lead briefly only to see the Wildcats rebound immediately in the closing minutes to earn their first Central Ozark Conference win in 77-71 fashion on Monday.
The Wildcats improved to 11-5 and are now 1-1 in conference play with the win. With the loss, Willard sits at 9-6, 0-2 COC. The contest was also a district victory for Neosho.
“Every conference win is so hard to come by in the COC,” Neosho coach Zane Culp said. “That was also a district game, so it was like a double win. … The boys had some resolve. To be up from essentially the second quarter on and then lose the lead and come right back … that shows maturity and the team getting better as the season goes.”
Neosho’s K’dyn Waters attacks the basket in the Wildcats’ win over Willard on Monday. Waters led all scorers with a game-high 30 points. Photo by Israel Perez.
GAME ACTION
After a back-and-forth opening period that saw the Wildcats hold a 14-13 lead, the Tigers took a one-point lead on the first field goal of the second quarter on an inside score from senior Haden Brown with 5:52 on the clock. From there, Neosho scored 12 unanswered points to take a 26-15 advantage with just over three minutes to play in the first half.
Senior K’dyn Waters kicked off the Wildcat run with a three-point play before knocking down a 3-pointer in transition. Junior Isaiah Green added two makes from the foul line before junior Jared Siler scored in transition off a Willard turnover. Junior Carter Fenske closed the run with a baseline floater for an 11-point lead.
Neosho pushed it’s lead to a quarter-high 13 points when Waters buried a 3-ball from the wing before making two charities with 1:50 left in the first half for a 33-20 lead. The Wildcats ultimately took a 33-24 margin into the intermission.
Willard made a run at the lead early in the second half, cutting the deficit to five after junior Cooper Wilken knocked down a 3-pointer and senior Gavin Davis converted at the foul line to trim the score to 36-31 with 4:55 on the clock.
Waters scored the next 12 points for Neosho to give the Wildcats a 49-35 cushion. Waters opened the 12-3 scoring run with a rare four-point play after burying an NBA-range 3-pointer from the wing while drawing contact. He followed with another deep 3-ball from the top of the key, a three-point play and his fourth 3-pointer of the period to end the run.
“He was a man on a mission tonight,” Culp said of Waters’ performance. “When you are hitting 3s like we did tonight, it just makes everything easier, obviously.”
“That four-point play was a big one because you could feel the momentum shifting their way and then he immediately did that. He just kept making big plays all night until the end.”
Neosho’s Isaiah Green fights his way to the hoop in the Wildcats’ win over Willard on Monday. Photo by Israel Perez.
Willard didn’t flinch, however, as the Tigers closed the third quarter on a 10-2 run to trim the lead back to six, 51-45, to start the final eight minutes of play.
Neosho held a 61-52 advantage with 5:29 left in regulation when Willard scored seven straight points, highlighted by a 3-ball from Wilken, to trim the lead to one possession, 61-59, with 4:10 to play. The Tigers cut the margin to two points twice more before coming all the way back to take their first lead of the game since early in the second quarter on a three-point play from Brown with 1:41 left to give Willard a 69-68 advantage.
The lead changed hands three more times in the closing minutes, with Brock Franklin giving Neosho the advantage for the final time on a corner 3-pointer with less than a minute to play for 73-71 lead. Neosho ultimately scored the final seven points of the game to close out the win after Willard initially took the lead late.
“We didn’t lose that lead for very long,” Culp said. “When we called the timeout, as a coaching staff, we just told them, ‘Guys, if we are going to let them dribble down there and score every time, it is going to be tough to win. If you just get a couple of stops, we will win the game.’ They took that to heart, I guess, because we scored like four or five in a row. … It was an exciting fourth quarter.”
SCORING LEADERS
Waters led Neosho with a game-high 30 points, 17 of which came in the second half. Junior Kael Smith finished with 15 points, while Fenske added 11. Green finished with 10 points to give the Wildcats four players in double-figure scoring.
Davis led Willard with 17 points, while Wilken and Brown each finished with 14. Brett Hall finished with 10 points to also give the Tigers four players in double figures.
UP NEXT
Neosho travels to Anderson to take on McDonald County on Tuesday.
CHEROKEE, Kan. — Kennedy DeRuy poured in 32 points and the top-seeded McAuley Catholic girls basketball team rolled to a 57-28 win over eighth-seeded Southeast on Monday night in an opening-round contest of the 2022 Lancer Classic.
The Warriors, who improved to 12-2, were short-handed for the game, as Kayleigh Teeter is out with a knee injury and Avery Eminger missed the game due to an illness.
“We played with five girls for all but three minutes of the game,” McAuley coach Mike Howard told SoMo Sports. “We only had six on the bench. I’m so proud of the girls for gutting it out and giving me their all. They had to dig deep in this one. KD put us on her back on the offensive side and all the girls played good defense.”
DeRuy had a big night, as the senior guard made 12 field goals, including six 3-pointers, to go with two free throws for 32 points. She outscored the opposition by herself.
Also for the Warriors, Lily Black had nine points, Kloee Williamson contributed eight points, Avery Gardner had five and Kendall Ramsey chipped in three points.
McAuley led 31-13 at the half and the Warriors were up 49-23 entering the fourth quarter.
The Warriors advanced to the tourney’s semifinals with the lopsided win.
McAuley, ranked fifth in Class 1 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, will take on fifth-seeded Erie at 7 on Thursday night. Erie topped fourth-seeded Riverton 33-29.
In other tourney action, third-seeded College Heights suffered a 43-40 setback to sixth-seeded Columbus.
The Cougars were without Addie Lawrence. CHC coach John Blankenship also missed the game due to an illness.
With the loss, the Cougars (4-5) will meet seventh-seeded Baxter Springs at 5:30 on Thursday in the consolation semifinals.
Thursday’s other semifinal will feature Parsons vs. Columbus at 8:30 p.m.
The Lancer Classic’s boys tournament is set to begin on Tuesday.
