CARTHAGE, Mo. — A quick start and a strong defensive effort led the Webb City girls basketball team to a 59-42 victory over rival Carthage on Tuesday night in Central Ozark Conference action.
The Cardinals built a 14-point cushion early in the game and led by 25 entering the fourth quarter on their way to a convincing win.
“I felt like we came out ready to play tonight,” Webb City coach Lance Robbins said. “Our focus early was to get the ball inside to Sami Mancini and I thought we did a good job of doing that. When she started scoring it opened up things on the perimeter and we had girls shooting the ball with confidence. I thought we did a good job defensively early in the game too.”
Webb City improved to 13-6 overall and 3-0 in the COC.
A 6-foot-5 sophomore post player, Mancini scored a game-high 24 points on 11-of-14 shooting and also grabbed 10 rebounds.
The Tigers had no answer for Mancini, as Carthage’s tallest player is 5-10.
“When you get the ball inside to Sami, good things are going to happen,” Coach Robbins said.
Also for the Cardinals, junior guard Malorie Stanley scored nine points, junior point guard Mia Robbins had eight, while senior guard Kate Brownfield and sophomore guard Kirra Long contributed five points apiece.
The Cardinals made 25-of-48 field goal attempts (52 percent), including 6-of-14 from beyond the arc. Mia Robbins hit two 3-pointers, while Izzy Lopez, Long, Brownfield and Stanley made one trey apiece.
Carthage fell to 9-10 and 1-2 in conference action.
Senior guard Kianna Yates led Carthage with 17 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Sophomore guard Maggie Boyd added seven points for the Tigers, who shot 28 percent for the game (14-of-51 FG). The Tigers went 4-for-20 on 3-pointers (20 percent).
Three players, Lexa Youngblood, Lauren Choate and Jaidyn Brunnert, chipped in four points apiece for CHS.
The Cardinals got off to a great start, as the visitors took a 17-3 lead after nine points from Mancini, a pair of 3-pointers from Mia Robbins and a midrange jumper from Brownfield.
The Cardinals picked apart Carthage’s halfcourt defense to get high-percentage shots and were also able to get second chance points on offensive rebounds.
On the other end, the Tigers struggled with empty possessions early in the game.
Carthage’s Boyd knocked a trey, but Webb City’s Stanley scored five straight points off the bench, a hoop inside and a wing 3-pointer.
Those points gave Webb City a comfortable 22-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Cardinals held a 29-11 advantage in the second period when the Tigers put together a 7-0 surge, with Boyd, Youngblood and Yates contributing points.
But Webb City responded by finishing the first half on a 9-1 burst.
During the late spurt, Mancini converted a pair of hoops in the paint, Long added a hoop in the lane before Brownfield buried a 3-pointer just before the buzzer, giving the visitors a 38-19 halftime advantage.
The Cardinals limited the Tigers to five made field goals in the opening half as opposed to their 16.
“Our girls have taken pride in their defense all season long,” Coach Robbins said. “We defended a little bit differently tonight. We usually play a lot of man-to-man and tonight we played a 2-3 zone. We felt like we needed to extend our defense and get out on their 3-point shooters. And I thought our girls did a good job of doing that.”
The hosts just couldn’t get shots to fall in the opening half, going 5-for-17 on field goal attempts.
Webb City doubled up Carthage 12-6 in the third quarter to take a commanding 50-25 cushion into the final frame.
“We talked at halftime about the fact that Carthage’s girls have a lot of pride and they’re going to come out and give us their best effort in the second half,” Coach Robbins said of his halftime message. “I thought we did a good job of not letting them go on a huge run in the second half.”
Webb City’s lead was never in jeopardy in the fourth quarter. The Tigers outscored the Cardinals 17-9 in the last eight minutes to account for the final score.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Both teams continue COC play on Thursday, as Carthage is at Republic and Webb City travels to Ozark.
FULL STATS: Webb City HS (webbcitycardinals.com)
