Mount Vernon started the game on a 10-0 run and played with that lead through the final horn on the way to a 52-40 win over Joplin on Tuesday in the Eagles’ home opener.
The Mountaineers (1-0) pushed their early lead to as much as 15 by halftime. The Eagles (0-3) were able to cut the lead to 10 several times in the second half before finally breaking through midway through the fourth quarter and trimming the lead to seven with four minutes to play.
Like it had so many times in the win, Mount Vernon was able to respond by pushing the lead back to double digits over the final minutes of action.
“I thought our girls played extremely hard,” first-year Joplin coach Brad Cox said. “We got into some foul trouble early, but I thought we did a good job of fighting through that adversity, and it’s only going to make us stronger. I told the girls, ‘we don’t lose, we learn.’ I learned something tonight. I learned we are great in a 1-3-1 defense, and I learned we have girls who are going to step up and are never going to give up.
“Our achilles heel is going to be our scoring. We are going to play extremely hard defensively. We still have a lot of room to grow. The main thing is, we are trending in the right direction and not the wrong direction. If we continue to build and have each other’s backs, good things are coming.”
Mount Vernon started the game with all of the momentum, scoring the first 10 points over the first four minutes of action. Cheyenne Bieber knocked down a pair of 3-pointers from the top of the key and Addie Hall converted an old-fashioned three-point play to fill out the opening surge.
Joplin’s Bailey Ledford knocked down a 3-ball from the corner to get the Eagles on the board. Joplin’s Riley Kelly sank a 3-pointer off a Mountaineers’ turnover to trim the lead to 12-6 before Hall answered with a 3-ball of her own at the buzzer to give Mount Vernon a 15-6 lead at the first break.
Ledford knocked down her second triple of the first half to open the second quarter to trim the lead back to six, but Mount Vernon used an 8-0 run to push the lead to double digits, 23-9, with less than four minutes to play in the first half.
Ledford and Mount Vernon traded 3-pointers before a free throw from Kelly with 30.9 seconds left cut the deficit to 26-14. Like they did at the end of the first quarter, the Mountaineers got a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the top of the key by Bieber to go into the intermission up 29-14.
Joplin started the second half on a 7-3 run to trim the deficit to 11, 32-21, off a 3-pointer from Izzy Yust, two free throws from Kelly and a bucket inside from Maria Loum. Shortly after, Joplin cut the lead to 10 on a 3-pointer from Ledford to make the score 34-24 with four minutes on the clock in the third period.
“She took a year off and I told her it was going to take time to get back into a rhythm and get her confidence back up,” Coach Cox said about Ledford’s day. “She can be that option to step up next to Brynn, Riley and others. We figured out tonight that we have all of the puzzle pieces, we just need to figure out how they fit.”
The Eagles and Mountaineers traded hoops to close out the third quarter, with Mount Vernon again getting a buzzer beater inside from Harley Daniels for a 40-28 lead with one quarter to play.
Joplin broke through to open the final period of play, using an elbow jumper from Kelly and a 3-ball from the corner by Kelly on consecutive possessions to cut the lead to single digits, 40-33.
“Riley is a sophomore starting at a Class 6 school,” Cox said. “She is tough as nails and is going to be a key player for us moving forward.”
As they did all evening, Mount Vernon had an answer. Bieber drilled a 3-pointer and followed with a mid-range jumper off a Joplin turnover to make the score 45-33 with three minutes left. Isabel Cloud added a 3-ball of her own for a 15-point lead the Mountaineers wouldn’t relinquish.
SCORING LEADERS
A sophomore guard, Bieber led all scorers with 24 points, making a game-high six 3-pointers. Hall added 10 and Cloud finished with eight.
Ledford knocked down four 3-pointers on the way to a team-high 16 points, while Kelly finished right behind with 13. Yust added seven.
“Bailey and Izzy stepped up and played extremely well,” Coach Cox said. “Riley Kelly played her butt off. There is not another team in this league who has more heart than these girls do. I can promise you that.”
UP NEXT
Joplin hosts Pittsburg on Dec. 2.
