CASSVILLE, Mo. — Kianna Yates capped the regular season of her senior year with an exclamation point after breaking the Carthage girls scoring record in a win over Cassville on Thursday.
Yates came into the contest 34 points shy of tying the scoring record previously held by Maya Williams (2013-16). Yates had nine points in the first quarter, eight in the second, nine in the third and nine in the fourth to finish with 35 points and the new all-time scoring leader with 1,548 career points.
“We knew going into the game that Kianna needed 35 points to set the record and the girls wanted to get that done for her tonight,” Carthage coach Scott Moore said to SoMo Sports. “She’s such a great player and a great teammate that the girls were super excited when she set the record with a 3 in the fourth quarter.
“It’s an amazing accomplishment for her, and for the entire team. It takes a whole career of talented teammates to make that happen. She’s not a selfish player, she’s set this record by being a consistent 15 to 20 points per game scorer for four years.
“I’m so proud of the talented player she has become and also the wonderful young lady she has grown into. She has definitely left a lasting legacy on the court, within our program and in the Carthage community as a whole ”
The Tigers (12-14) played with the consistency of their point guard against the Wildcats, scoring 16 points in each of the first two quarters to build a 32-21 advantage by the intermission. Carthage continued to pull away in the second half, limiting Cassville to 23 total points in the second half.
Maggie Boyd added 12 points for Carthage, while Lauren Choate scored eight in the win.
“I thought that Maggie and Lauren did a great job of giving us offensive balance tonight,” Moore added. “When those two are hitting shots, a team can’t focus just on Kianna.”
Carthage enters the postseason as the sixth seed of the Class 6 District 5 tournament and matches up with third-seeded Kickapoo at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday at Nixa.
