CARTHAGE, Mo. — A dominant second quarter by Strafford opened up a double-digit lead that was too great for the Carthage girls to rally back from in the opening contest of the night.
In the nightcap, Nixa held the Carthage boys quiet in the first quarter while building a double-digit lead it wouldn’t relinquish down the stretch in a conference win on Tuesday.
DOMINANT 2ND QUARTER PROPELS STRAFFORD OVER CARTHAGE
Strafford took a two-possession lead into the second quarter before ballooning the margin to 20 points by the intermission en route to a 64-37 win over Carthage on Tuesday.
The Indians (11-1) got hot from the perimeter in the opening eight minutes of play to build a six-point lead by the start of the second quarter. Strafford outscored the Tigers (5-7) 18-4 in the second period to take a 36-16 advantage into the locker room. Strafford built a large enough lead in the third quarter to initiate a running clock in the final eight minutes.
“Strafford is a really good team and obviously they have a lot of state championships and wins in the past few years,” Carthage coach Scott Moore said. “And I know they were extra motivated because we beat them last year at their place. So, I knew they were going to bring their best energy against us. It felt like we were still zapped from the big run in the Pink and White Tournament. We just didn’t seem to have our legs, which is probably why we didn’t shoot well.
“I am proud of the fact our girls went down fighting. … That is something we want to build on. When we play with energy, good things happen for us. When we don’t have the right energy or the right attitude and frame of mind, things get out of hand early and I think it kind of did tonight.”
Carthage’s Kianna Yates and Lauren Choate scored the first two baskets of the game before Strafford went on a 12-2 run thanks to four 3-pointers over a span of two minutes of game action to build a 12-6 advantage. Lauren Jones and Bailey Chrisman knocked down the first two shots from the perimeter before Laney Humble converted a pair of shots from range. The Indians ultimately took an 18-12 lead into the second period.
Strafford limited Carthage to a pair of free throws and one field goal in the second quarter while taking control of the contest with a 36-16 lead at halftime.
“I thought they did a good job of walling us off from the paint and forcing us to shoot from the outside,” Moore said. “Which a lot of times I am OK with, but, tonight, our shots didn’t fall. I thought that was the big determiner (in the outcome). It wasn’t so much what they did, we just missed a lot of shots. We had some point-blank bunnies, layups and (putbacks) that we missed. We had some wide-open 3s on great kickouts that we missed. Then, it’s a rebound for them and they get out and run and it turns into a track meet and we didn’t do a good job of transition defense. So, if you have a bad shooting night and your transition defense isn’t on point, that’s what happens against a team like Strafford.”
Senior guard Emma Compton had a memorable second quarter for the Indians. Not only did she score 14 of her team’s 18 points in the quarter, she also joined the 1,000-point career scorers list with a 3-pointer at the 1:11 mark to give Strafford a 36-16 lead.
Strafford pushed the lead to quarter-high 31 points with 27 seconds left to go in the third period on a three-point play from Chrisman, which led to a running clock to start the final eight minutes of play.
SCORING LEADERS
Compton finished with a game-high 18 points in scoring, while Humble finished with 17 points that included a trio of 3-pointers. Jones added 10 points.
Maggie Boyd led Carthage with 11 points, while Kianna Yates and Zye Clark had eight points each.
UP NEXT
Carthage is at McDonald County on Thursday.
NIXA BUILDS EARLY AND PULLS AWAY FROM CARTHAGE LATE
CARTHAGE, Mo. — Nixa’s defense stifled Carthage in the first quarter and the Eagles built a double-digit lead by halftime that held up down the stretch in a 57-40 win over the Tigers on Thursday in Central Ozark Conference play.
“I think it took our kids eight minutes to figure out we could play basketball with them,” Carthage coach Nathan Morris said. “I felt like we were extremely passive and I didn’t think we defended like we just defended for three days at the (Hy-Vee) Holiday Shootout. … It was (also) a weird atmosphere. … I told the guys what happens in that game if you don’t spot them a (9-0) hole.”
Nixa (9-1, 2-0 COC) had a strong defensive presence early, limiting Carthage (9-2, 0-1 COC) to just one field goal in the first quarter. The Eagles started the game with a 9-0 run that included four points from Jaret Nelson, a bucket from Colten Berry and a 3-pointer from Jordyn Turner.
Carthage’s Joel Pugh got the Tigers on the board with a score on the drive at the 2:42 mark before Nixa scored the final four points to close the period.
Carthage cut the lead down to two possessions early in the second quarter after Pugh caught fire from the perimeter, knocking three straight 3-pointers to make the score 15-11 with 5:30 on the clock. He finished the period with 11 points for the Tigers.
“They were definitely trying to take Joel Pugh away, and I think he started the game 0-for-4 and then we went into halftime and he had 14. That’s huge for him to show up in a moment like that.”
Nixa recovered to push the lead back to double digits by the intermission after closing the half on a 7-2 run, including a 3-pointer from Colin Ruffin at the buzzer to give the Eagles a 28-17 lead.
Carthage was able to trim the lead to single digits in the third period on a three-point play following an offensive rebound and putback score from Tyler Willis, but the Tigers ultimately went into the fourth period trailing by 12, 39-27.
The Tigers trimmed the lead to 10 in the fourth quarter when Caden Kabance connected on a 3-ball with 3:44 to play, but Carthage would get no closer to the lead down the stretch.
“We had some tired bodies out there,” Morris said about his team’s inability to come up with one final push towards the lead. “You can tell we were a little gassed and our energy dropped, but to be able to play against the (size) that Nixa has for 32 minutes is tough. … I don’t think we played our best brand of basketball tonight against a state-ranked team.”
SCORING LEADERS
Ruffin led Nixa with 15 points, while Kael Combs added 12. Nelson gave the Eagles three players in double figures with 10 points. Turner finished with eight points.
Pugh led Carthage with 17 points, while Max Templeman closed with nine. Willis and Kabance each had five points.
UP NEXT
Carthage is at McDonald County on Thursday.
