Playing their first game without senior leading scorer Brynn Driver, the Joplin Eagles ran into a freight train known as the Farmington (Arkansas) Cardinals in the semifinals of the 26th annual Freeman Lady Eagle Classic on Friday night inside Kaminsky Gymnasium.
Farmington led 21-2 after one quarter and scored the first 21 points of the game, 46-5 at halftime, and 66-11 after three quarters on the way to a commanding 68-21 win over Joplin.
Joplin managed to outscore Farmington 10-2 in the fourth.
Driver went down with a knee injury late in the first half Ton hursday of Joplin’s 45-39 quarterfinal win against Leavenworth (Kansas).
“I’ve tried to stay positive all year with them,” Joplin coach Brad Cox said. “I understand it’s been a struggle for Joplin girls basketball teams for many, many years, but our goal this year like I told people before is to build a foundation. That foundation has to be built upon some positivity, and it has to be built on girls wanting to play this game. They’re already stressed out by playing a really, really good Farmington team … what good is it for me to give them even more stress?
“This is our first game back with missing Brynn. We were out of sync, which I knew was going to be the case, but we’re going to get better. Brynn was over there coaching them up. She’s still continuing to be that leader for us. Like I told the girls, it couldn’t have happened at a worse time, being right in the middle of a tournament with no practice days.
“I just reminded them we don’t play to the scoreboard. We play to our ability. I felt like second half, we came out and did that. We went from five points to 21. Three hundred percent more.”
Bailey Ledford led Joplin with six points, Riley Kelly had four, Isabella Yust added three, and Ashley Phillips, Maria Loum, Serafina Auberry, and Alissa Owens each had two.
Reese Shirey netted a game-high 16 points for Farmington (10-0) and 6-foot-3 senior sharpshooter Jenna Lawrence, who signed in November to become an Arkansas Razorback, finished with 13 points, all of them in the first half and 11 of them in the first quarter.
Farmington came one late 3-point basket short of a Class 4A state championship last season.
Joplin, 2-4 overall, plays Saturday for third place against another formidable opponent in Kickapoo, who lost 51-48 to Blue Valley North in the other semifinal and final game Friday.
“Short memory,” Cox said. “We’re going to have our hands full Saturday, either with a great Kickapoo team we already played (Kickapoo 83-38 to open the season) or a really good Blue Valley North team that has multiple D1 players. Our schedule’s never easy, but we’re always up for a challenge. All we’re worried about is bringing the best version of ourselves and letting everything else take care of itself after that.”
