CARTHAGE, Mo. — The Carthage Tigers jumped out to a 51-27 halftime lead and their red-hot start held up in the second half for a 71-50 win on Monday night against the visiting Branson Pirates in Central Ozark Conference play.
Carthage used an 18-4 end to the first quarter to go ahead 30-11 after one and the Tigers built a 21-point lead with the first basket of the second quarter at 32-11.
It looked as if the game might turn out to be a tale of two halves, as Branson scored the last eight points of the third quarter and entered the fourth down 58-42 behind a 15-7 edge in the third for the Pirates.
The Pirates cut their deficit to 60-46 around the 3-minute mark, but the Tigers scored 11 of the game’s final 15 points to earn a 21-point victory.
“That’s probably one of the best first halves I’ve ever been a part of as a coach for a team because it was against a pretty good opponent,” Carthage coach Scott Moore said. “In the past, we’ve put up 40-45 on a team who maybe hasn’t won a whole lot of games this year. Branson coming into tonight was very even with us record wise and success and failure versus similar teams.
“For us to come out of the gates and hang 51 in the first half, I just loved their energy on offense and defense. We played with a little bit of swag, which we’ve talked about all year playing with that confidence that gets results. Happy to see that.
“We definitely wanted that same energy to carry on for the whole second half, but shots didn’t fall as well so that led to a lack of energy and plus it takes us out of our press package which usually gives us energy. But definitely, a great start to the game.”
A basket from Kianna Yates and a trifecta from Lauren Choate extended Carthage’s lead back out to 19 at 65-46, then Yates and Choate scored the last six points on made free throws within the final 80 seconds.
“With a young team, they need to learn to close out games and close out teams you have a significant lead on,” Moore said. “Hopefully, we did learn that, because we didn’t do that early in the fourth quarter. We started making bad passes, taking bad shots, let them get layups and fouls got us into some foul trouble situations. We’ll look at that on film and talk about it on Wednesday about how going forward we need to finish better and what it takes to do it.”
The Tigers honored seniors Yates and Landry Cochran before the game.
“Obviously, Kianna Yates has had a fabulous career,” Moore said. “She’s closing in on the school’s all-time scoring record, and we hope that she can get that done this year. That would be a great accomplishment for her. We’re going to miss her because she’s an everyday influence on the program. Hardest worker in practice, first kid here last to leave, getting up extra shots and doing extra work. The face of the franchise for the last four years, she’s been that important to us for that long.
“Landry, on the other hand, is more of the behind-the-scenes and doesn’t put up a whole lot of stats. She’s the person who has us running our plays correctly, telling her teammates what to do, and she has us in the right defense because she’s communicating. Her positive influence in practice and in games … I’ve never seen her say even a mean word, she’s always positive, always encouraging, lifting up her teammates.
“The two of them have been such an integral part of what we’re trying to build here that we’re going to miss that from them the next few years after they’ve graduated, but they’ve definitely made a lasting impression on our program.”
Yates scored a game-high 26 points and she’s 75 points away from surpassing former Carthage standout Maya Williams’ school record of 1,547 career points. The Tigers have at least four games remaining on their schedule.
Choate added 17 points, Maggie Boyd nine, Lexa Youngblood eight, Jaidyn Brunnert seven, and Cochran and Zye Clark rounded out the scoring with two points each.
Carthage improved to 10-13 overall and 2-5 COC, and the Tigers hit the road on Friday to face Willard for their first of three straight road games to close out the regular season.
The Tigers snapped a five-game skid with the win Monday.
Taylor Foster led Branson (9-11, 1-4) with 17 points and Ellison Mehrhoff provided the Pirates a second scorer in double figures with 12 points.
