The Joplin girls basketball team equaled last year’s win total with Friday’s 48-45 win over Seneca inside Kaminsky Gymnasium.
The non-conference victory hikes Joplin’s record to 4-5. The Eagles won four games all of last season, with the fourth and final win coming in late February.
“Any win is a good win,” Joplin coach Luke Floyd said. “I thought we were much-improved. A lot of things we worked on this week in practice I saw applied to the game. I thought the girls played hard. We took care of the ball a lot better. Our ball movement was much better and I thought we did a better job of playing downhill.”
Junior guard Brooke Nice scored 16 points to lead Joplin. She hit four 3-pointers.
“She’s playing with confidence,” Floyd said. “She’s been putting in a lot of work staying after practice and putting up some extra shots. She’s starting to get in a rhythm. She’s a great shooter and her teammates are doing a good job of finding her.”
Sophomore guard Brynn Driver added 14 points, while junior forward Emma Floyd scored eight. Also for the Eagles (4-5), Izzy Yust scored six points on two treys, while Lily Pagan had four points.
Junior guard Aliya Grotjohn scored 16 points to lead Seneca, while sophomore forward Parker Long had 12. Senior guard Makayla French hit two 3-pointers for the Indians.
Seneca led 26-24 at halftime, but Joplin began the second half on a 10-1 burst.
During the spurt, Emma Floyd scored inside, Nice and Yust both hit 3-pointers and Pagan added a hoop in transition, giving the hosts a 34-27 lead.
The Eagles outscored the Indians 16-8 in the third period to take a 40-34 lead into the fourth quarter.
“Defensively, we were really hustling and we did a better job of closing out on their shooters,” Floyd said. “We did a better job of rotating. We really wanted to crowd the ball and make them put the ball on the floor and I thought we did a better job of that in the second half. Our rebounding has to improve. Overall, I thought our rotations were very good.”
Joplin scored the first five points of the final frame, as Driver scored in the lane before Nice knocked down a key corner 3-pointer, extending the Eagles’ advantage to 45-34 with 3:15 to play.
“It was huge,” Floyd said of the trey. “Brook’s a great shooter. We’re a pretty good 3-point shooting team when the ball goes inside-out. When we kicked it out, I knew it was good as soon as it left her hand.”
Seneca finished the game on an 11-3 run, but the Eagles never relinquished their lead.
“We stretched the lead to 11, but we have to do a better job of closing it out,” Floyd said. “That’s part of building a program. We have to learn how to win. You have to learn how to play with a lead. That will come in time I hope.”
Seneca (3-5) returns to action on Jan. 4 at home against Clever.
Joplin finishes out 2020 with a road game at Aurora on Monday.
“We’d love to get one more win and go into break at .500,” Floyd said. “That would be huge for us.”
