Nixa turned to the full-court press early and forced several turnovers to build an early lead that Joplin was unable to rally back from in a 69-44 Central Ozark Conference win on Friday.
“I was extremely proud of them,” Joplin coach Luke Floyd said. “This is the first game this year where we competed for 32 minutes. Granted, we had turnovers, but we are playing a really good team and that was probably the most pressure we have seen. We can deal with turnovers against this kind of pressure as we learn to play against it. … Overall, I was just extremely proud of their effort.”
Nixa (15-6, 3-1 COC) started the game in a full press on the defensive end and it frustrated Joplin (6-12, 0-4 COC), which turned the ball over 12 times in the opening quarter. Those turnovers led to 14 points off turnovers for Nixa, which finished the first period with a 21-12 advantage.
“They are just very aggressive and come at you from all angles,” Floyd said. “They are relentless and are not going to let up. Tonight, I thought our turnovers were created by Nixa. It wasn’t us beating (ourselves).”
Joplin trailed by 14 more than midway through the second period before Lily Pagan knocked down a 3-pointer and Emma Floyd followed with a pair of makes from the free-throw line to trim the lead to single digits, 31-22, with two minutes left in the first half.
“That is what we learned, we can play with anybody,” Floyd said. “We just have to take care of the ball.”
Nixa closed out the second quarter on a 7-2 spurt to take a 38-24 lead into the intermission.
Pagan knocked down a 3-pointer to open the second half before Nixa’s Norah Clark led her team on a 16-5 surge to take a commanding 54-29 lead with less than three minutes to play in the period. Clark accounted for nine of her team’s points.
Nixa held the pace in the fourth quarter on the way to the win.
SCORING LEADERS
Clark led Nixa with 19 points, while Alison Kamies and Sadie Conway each finished with 14 points.
Pagan finished with a team-high 15 points to lead Joplin. She also sank a team-high four 3-pointers. Brynn Driver closed with 10 points, while Emma Floyd added nine and Brooke Nice with eight.
“I thought we shot the ball well,” Floyd said. “Lily shot the ball extremely well. Brynn did a great job getting to the hole early on, getting to the free-throw line and creating for her teammates.”
UP NEXT
Joplin continues play in the Seneca Tournament on Saturday with a matchup at 3 p.m. before traveling to Ozark on Monday.
