Your online home for Joplin area sports coverage.

GIRLS HOOPS: Joplin cruises past McDonald County to end regular season

By:
Lucas Davis

While the Joplin girls basketball team celebrated Senior Night on Monday, the Eagles officially put the regular season to bed with a 63-28 win over McDonald County on Tuesday inside Kaminsky Gymnasium.

Joplin used an early run in the first quarter to take the momentum before a game-defining surge in the second quarter firmly planted the Eagles in front for good.

“I thought the girls came out locked, focused and ready to go tonight,” Joplin coach Luke Floyd said. “They played their tails off. Defensively, I could not be more proud of that first half. The way we moved the ball on offense, I don’t think we settled tonight. We made the extra pass, played good team basketball and that got us out to a big lead.”

Joplin’s Brynn Driver scores on the break in the Eagles’ win over McDonald County in the regular season finale. Photo by Shawn Fowler.

DISTRICT ACTION

Joplin closes the regular season with a 12-14 record, as the program’s win total continues to climb under Coach Floyd, who is in his second year at the helm. The Eagles up from seven wins last season and four wins the year prior.

“It’s another step in the process,” Coach Floyd said of his team’s regular season. “We let some get away that we felt we should have won, but that’s part of changing the culture here. We have to expect to win when we step on the floor. We talked last night about our three seniors (Ella Hafer, Emma Floyd and Brooke Nice) and they are a huge part of our program. Losing them, we are going to need girls in our locker room to step up next year. To see the little girls in our locker room before the game and behind our bench during the game is what it’s about. We want Joplin Lady Eagle basketball to be a destination for little girls and we can take pride that we are starting to turn that corner.”

Joplin heads into the postseason as the hosts of the Class 6 District 5 tournament. The Eagles are the seventh seed and take on second-seeded Nixa (22-4) at 2 p.m. on Saturday inside Kaminsky Gymnasium.

“We need to have a consistent effort,” Coach Floyd said about his upcoming matchup with Nixa. “We want to step on the floor and expect to win the game. They are good and we respect the heck out of Nixa, but we really feel like that is a good matchup for us.”

GAME ACTION

Joplin was the aggressor out of the gates, jumping out to a 13-1 lead over the first five-plus minutes of action. Brynn Driver knocked down a 3-pointer to kick off the scoring in the game. Ella Hafer added a bucket inside and Emma Floyd splashed down a 3-pointer for an 8-0 lead. Brooke Nice converted two charities and ended the early surge with a 3-ball from the top of the key.

“That is our biggest battle this year—confidence,” Coach Floyd said of the early run. “There is a difference between going on the floor expecting to win and going on the floor hoping to win. I told them we should always go out expecting to win, and that was how we came out tonight.”

The Eagles led 17-10 heading into the second quarter when Hafer earned a steal for a score on the break and followed it up with an inside score to push the lead to 21-10. McDonald County got on the board in the second period on a bucket from KaitLynn Townsend, but it was all Joplin from there. 

Joplin essentially put the game out of reach after using an 18-0 run to build a 41-14 lead heading into the intermission. Nice started the run with a 3-pointer, while Driver led the run with seven points, including a 3-pointer. Emma Floyd had four points to help fill out the spurt.

“It was all about staying focused after building the lead in the first quarter,” Coach Floyd said. “If you can stretch out an 18-0 run, it’s because you are taking care of the ball and playing good defense. That was one of our strengths tonight—taking care of the basketball. If we are not throwing the ball out of bounds or to the other team, we are a tough team to beat.”

The Eagles pushed the lead to more than 30 out of the half, using a layup off the break by Hafer and back to back 3-pointers by Nice and Driver to make the score 49-14. Joplin cruised through the final 12 minutes of action.

SCORING LEADERS

Driver closed with five 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 21 points, while Nice knocked down three 3-pointers on the way to 16 points. Hafer finished with 13 points and Emma Floyd added seven in the win.

McDonald County was led in scoring by Anna Clarkson’s seven points. 

Share:

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on pinterest
Pinterest
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Table of Contents

On Key

Related Posts