Second-seeded Nixa surged out to a big lead after the first quarter and never looked back in a 78-54 win over seventh-seeded Joplin in the opening round of the Class 6 District 5 tournament inside Kaminsky Gymnasium.
Fourth-ranked Nixa opened the game with all of the momentum, jumping out to a 17-2 lead and taking a 31-9 lead into the second period. Nixa carried the lead into the fourth before pushing the advantage to 30 early in the period.
“It was a rough first quarter and it was hard to overcome,” Joplin coach Luke Floyd said. “Nixa is a great team. They are what they are for a reason. I thought our girls expected to win when they stepped on the floor and kept playing regardless of the score. … That says a lot about the character of our team. We continued to fight up until the final buzzer and I am proud of the girls for that.”
THAT’S A WRAP
Joplin finishes the season with a 12-15 record and graduates seniors Brooke Nice, Ella Hafer and Emma Floyd, Coach Floyd’s daughter.
“Overall, we have made such great improvements from two years ago,” Coach Floyd said about this season. “Even from the beginning of this year, we have improved immensely. … To compete with a team like Nixa, that doesn’t happen last year and probably not for most of this year. Coming out and expecting to win is a huge improvement. The foundation we have laid going forward, it’s a program that is going to compete on a nightly basis and not rollover.
“As far as the seniors go, for Ella and Brooke to welcome me and my family into this community, I could not be more thankful for coming across kids like that. They wanted to buy in and build this program.
“With Emma, from the time she was a baby, she was at practice with me. It will be different not having her going forward.”
GAME ACTION
It was all Nixa over the first four minutes of the game, as the Eagles raced out to a 15-point lead. Macie Conway highlighted the run with seven points, including a 3-pointer. Alison Kamies also had six points in the early surge.
“I think nerves played a large part in our early turnovers,” Coach Floyd said. “They play aggressively on defense. When you give them easy layup opportunities, the basket is going to grow for them. I felt like we made the adjustment after the first quarter. We just cannot replicate what we are going to see in practice and until you actually play against it, it takes an adjustment period. That is where we fell behind early.”
Nixa took a 31-9 lead into the second period and held that margin into the intermission, holding a 52-30 cushion at the break.
Nixa closed the third quarter on a 7-0 run and scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to start a running clock, pushing the lead to 74-43 in the process.
SCORING LEADERS
Conway led Nixa with a game-high 21 points, while Kamies finished with 20 points in the win. Norah Clark finished with 15 points.
Nice led Joplin after tying with a game-high 21 points, including six 3-pointers. Brynn Driver and Hafer each finished with 10 in the loss.
UP NEXT
Nixa takes on third-seeded Republic at 7:30 p.m. on March 1 in the district semifinals inside Kaminsky Gymnasium.
