SENECA, Mo. — A strong first quarter wasn’t enough for the Joplin High School girls basketball team.
Joplin was unable to hold on to an early lead, as the Aurora Houn’ Dawgs overcame a double-digit deficit and rallied for a 54-49 victory over the Eagles on Thursday at the Seneca Tournament.
Free throws played a big part in the win for the Houn’ Dawgs. Aurora made 26-of-30 at the foul line.
“We fouled way too much,” Joplin coach Luke Floyd said. “And that’s on me. I have to teach them how to defend properly without fouling. I have to do a better job of running defensive drills. We need to work on the fundamentals. That comes back to me.”
The Eagles got off to a great start.
Joplin closed the first quarter on a 13-0 run to take a 17-4 lead.
Seven different players scored in the opening frame for the Eagles—Bailey Ledford, Brynn Driver, Lily Pagan, Brooke Nice, Serafina Auberry, Isabella Yust and Jacie Jensen.
“I thought we came out with great energy,” Floyd said. “The girls really came out well and put a lot of pressure on the ball. We got our transition game going and we got some easy buckets. I thought our girls did a good job of attacking on both ends of the floor in the first quarter.”
Joplin led 22-6 after hoops from Nice and Driver, but Aurora got going offensively.
The Houn’ Dawgs finished the first half on an 18-5 surge. Ellie Creasey and Ana Perez Ortiz both hit treys late in the second quarter, trimming Joplin’s halftime advantage to 27-24.
“I put us in a zone and tried to mix things up,” Floyd said. “That allowed Aurora to go on a run. And we put them on the foul line too much.”
A back-and-forth third period ended with the score deadlocked at 38.
Emma Floyd’s hoop in the paint gave Joplin a 43-42 lead with just over five minutes remaining.
However, the Eagles would go the next three and a half minutes without scoring a point while Aurora would put up six unanswered points.
Nice hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:30 left, ending the Eagles’ scoring drought and cutting Aurora’s lead to 48-46.
Aurora’s Elizabeth Martin and Creasey both went 2-for-2 at the charity stripe to keep the Houn’ Dawgs in front for good, while Ledford made one free throw for the Eagles.
Yust’s bucket inside trimmed Joplin’s deficit to three at 52-49 with 10 seconds left.
Aurora’s Nallely Martinez hit two clutch free throws with six seconds left to all but seal the win.
“The girls are trying and they’re playing really hard,” Floyd said. “As a coach, I just have to put them in better positions.”
A senior guard, Martin scored 23 points for Aurora, with 13 of those points coming at the free-throw line. A sophomore guard, Creasey added 14 points for the Houn’ Dawgs (8-9).
A junior guard, Nice scored 13 points to lead Joplin (6-11). She hit three treys.
A junior forward, Floyd added 11 points before fouling out. Driver, a sophomore guard, added eight points.
In Thursday’s other game, Seneca defeated Monett 52-33.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Joplin hosts Nixa at 6 on Friday.
The Eagles will conclude Seneca tourney play at 3 on Saturday.
