Webb City remained near the top of the Central Ozark Conference standings by earning a convincing 54-19 victory over Joplin on Monday night in a girls basketball clash inside Kaminsky Gymnasium.
The Cardinals are now 15-8 overall and 5-2 in conference play with two COC games to go.
Carl Junction is currently undefeated in conference play, while Republic has just one loss and Nixa, Ozark and Webb City have two setbacks apiece.
“One of our goals at the beginning of the season was to be in the hunt for a conference title,” Cardinals coach Lance Robbins said. “Coming down to the end of the season, we’re still in the conversation. We have two tough games coming up with Nixa and Carl Junction to end the conference schedule. We know both of those teams are also right there in the hunt for a conference title. We’d have to have some help along the way, but we just need to take care of our own business. We just have to continue to get better each day and we’ll see what happens.”
Webb City is at Class 6 No. 4 Nixa on Thursday, and the Cardinals end COC play next Monday at home against league leading and Class 5 No. 1 Carl Junction.
In Monday’s clash with the Eagles, Webb City took control with a strong second quarter and then slowly pulled away the rest of the night.
“I thought we kind of sputtered early offensively,” Coach Robbins said. “I thought Joplin’s girls were getting after it defensively. It took us a few minutes to get adjusted. Once we got adjusted, I thought we got into a groove and did some good things. We had good minutes all the way around from all of our kids tonight.”
The Eagles, who have played a large part of the season without injured senior team leader Brynn Driver, fell to 4-19 overall and 0-7 in the COC.
“Kudos to Webb City, they played extremely hard, and we knew they would be ready to play,” Joplin coach Brad Cox said. “We did a really good job of taking care of the ball in the first quarter. But in the second quarter, we started having turnovers and that was the difference in the game. And our Achilles’ heel all year is not being able to make shots. We just have to get better at making shots.”
Cox noted he was pleased with his team’s effort.
“We play extremely hard every game,” Cox said. “There’s never a question about that. I’m proud of the girls. We never have to question them about playing hard, no matter the score.”
GAME RECAP
The game was deadlocked at five early when the Cardinals reeled off seven straight points to end the first quarter for a 12-5 advantage.
Webb City pulled away for good with a game-changing 17-2 burst in the second quarter.
Junior guard Malorie Stanley scored eight points off the bench during the surge, while senior guard Izzy Lopez hit a 3-pointer and sophomore forward Sami Mancini scored inside. Also, junior forward Dawsyn Decker, senior guard Kate Brownfield, junior guard Mia Robbins and Mancini all contributed free throws that extended Webb City’s lead to 29-8.
“I thought Malorie gave us a big boost off the bench defensively and offensively,” Coach Robbins noted.
While the Cardinals got going, the Eagles were plagued with empty possessions throughout the second period. But a hoop in the lane from junior guard Bailey Ledford and a pair of midrange jumpers from sophomore forward Riley Kelly cut Joplin’s deficit to 29-12 by intermission.
The Cardinals outscored the Eagles 13-4 in the third period to take a comfortable 42-16 lead into the final frame.
In the fourth quarter, baskets from sophomore guard Kirra Long, Lopez and Brownfield extended Webb City’s advantage to 49-18 to force a running clock.
Webb City limited Joplin to seven made field goals in the game, and the Eagles were held to seven points in the second half.
“We played a lot of man-to-man in the first half and in the second half we switched some things up with our zone defenses,” Coach Robbins said of his team’s solid defensive effort. “I thought our kids did a great job defensively of applying pressure and getting into the passing lanes. And I thought we did a good job of boxing out and rebounding, too.”
NAMES & NUMBERS
The 6-foot-5 Mancini scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Cardinals. The 5-8 Stanley also reached double figures with 13 points.
Also for the Cardinals, Decker scored nine points, Long added eight and Lopez had five. Brownfield scored three points and Mia Robbins added a single tally.
The Cardinals took advantage of 21 Joplin turnovers while committing just eight turnovers of their own.
Ledford led the Eagles with seven points, while Kelly had six points. Senior guard Izzy Yust scored three points, freshman forward Alissa Owens had two and freshman forward Raniya Triplett added one point.
Joplin travels to Branson on Thursday. The Eagles conclude COC play at home next Monday against Ozark.
FULL STATS: Webb City HS (webbcitycardinals.com)
