CARTHAGE, Mo. — Carthage and Neosho opened the CHS Senior Night doubleheader on Saturday with a special moment.
Tigers’ Lauren Wilson, who is out for her final season after a knee injury early in the schedule, suited up and was allowed to score the game’s first bucket on an uncontested layup in a way to honor the senior.
“You hope that is her lasting memory from high school basketball and not the last play before that when she got hurt,” Carthage coach Scott Moore said. “She started all last year, started the first 10 games this year and got hurt in December. She’s been an integral part of our program for four years. For her not to finish her last year actively on the court hurts. So, hopefully, we put a little shine on that by allowing her to get her last basket as a Carthage Tiger.”
The Tigers (12-9, 2-4 COC) held a six-point lead after the first quarter before only to see the Wildcats (8-9, 0-5) use an early second-quarter surge to take their first lead of the contest. Carthage went into the intermission up two and started the third quarter on an 11-1 run to build the advantage back up to double digits. Neosho cut the margin to one possession early in the fourth before Carthage’s Kianna Yates put her team on her back down the stretch to seal the 63-48 Central Ozark Conference win.
“Overall, I didn’t think it was too bad,” Neosho coach Ryan Madison said. “We started slow. But I thought for about two quarters we played right with them. Defensively, we didn’t do a great job at times. I thought we guarded better than we have. When we took care of the ball, we were able to do some things. They just turned us over way too many times.”
SENIOR NIGHT
The Tigers honored four seniors after the win against Neosho—Wilson, Hailey Fullerton, Brinna Ream and Katie Crowe.
“Not a lot of teams have four seniors who are starters,” Moore said. “They’ve been a big part of our program for a couple of years. They’ve all been important in setting the tempo in practice, being mature leaders on the team and really they’re why we’ve had so much success this season.”
GAME ACTION
Carthage jumped out to an 8-2 start and held the pace into the second period with a 19-13 advantage. The Wildcats started the second period with a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the game. Baylie Bowers and Karlee Ellick scored inside to start the surge before Ellick knocked down a 3-pointer at the 5:02 mark to put Neosho on top 20-19. Olivia Hixon followed with a driving score to push the lead to three.
“We just took care of the ball,” Madison said of his team’s play to open the second quarter. “If we don’t turn the ball over and make it a half-court game, which we are trying to do, we are hard to guard. … I just felt like we didn’t turn the ball over much and got to run our stuff to put more pressure on them. We attacked the rim pretty well.”
Carthage halted the run there before answering with six straight points of their own to regain the momentum, ultimately heading into the intermission with a 25-24 lead. Ream, Presley Probert and Sophie Shannon each had baskets for the Tigers.
“We dug ourselves into a little bit of a hole when we let them make that run,” Moore said. “But I liked that our girls maturely answered it to take back the lead before halftime.”
After Neosho’s hot start to the second quarter, Carthage returned the favor in the third with an 11-1 spurt to open the second half, pushing the lead back to double digits. The run was fueled by a 3-pointer from Crowe, a score on the break by Fullerton and a mid-range jumper by Yates.
Neosho was able to trim the lead to one possession early in the fourth, 43-41, after a score on the break by Michelle Lindsay, and again near the midway mark, 47-44, following a Hixon 3-pointer.
Yates put the final touches on the win for the Tigers, scoring 11 straight points for her team, including a 3-pointer, down the stretch to extend Carthage’s lead to 58-44 with less than two minutes to play.
“Kianna has had a couple of games in a row where she probably hasn’t played up to her ability,” Moore said. “It was nice to see her come out more aggressive tonight, maybe even more composed with her aggression to find her spot for open looks. It was nice the team fed off of that. … She gave us that energy right there.”
SCORING LEADERS
Fullerton finished with a game-high 26 points to lead Carthage. Yates scored all of her 16 points in the second half, while Ream finished with 10. Crowe scored seven.
Hixon led Neosho with 21 points. Ellick added 11, while Reagan McInturff scored eight.
UP NEXT
Carthage is at Branson on Monday.
Neosho is at Webb City on Tuesday.
