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Basketball: Joplin girls win home opener, improve to 2-0

A new era of Joplin girls basketball is off to a promising start. 

Joplin improved to 2-0 on the young season by earning a convincing 46-28 non-conference victory over East Newton on Monday night in the home opener of the 2020-21 season inside Kaminsky Gymnasium.

“A win is a win,” first-year Joplin head coach Luke Floyd said. “We’ll take any win we can get. It wasn’t pretty by any means, and there’s still lots of stuff to work on. We are still a work in progress. We’re going to get there. There were lots of positives. We’re making strides in the right direction.” 

Floyd noted getting off to a 2-0 start should give his young team a confidence-boost, as last year’s team won just four games. 

“It’s huge,” Floyd said of the start to the season. “When we walked off the floor Friday night (at Cassville), you could see the confidence in the locker room. We’re building confidence. This validates that their hard work is paying off. If we continue to work hard, good things are going to happen for us.” 

Junior forward Emma Floyd scored 12 points to lead the Eagles, while sophomore guard Isabella Yust added eight points. Junior guard Brooke Nice and sophomore guard Brynn Driver contributed seven points apiece in Joplin’s balanced attack. Driver connected on two 3-pointers, while Nice hit one trey. 

Joplin’s Brooke Nice looks for an opening against East Newton on Monday night. Joplin won the game 46-28. Photo by Shawn Fowler.

Also for the Eagles, sophomore Serafina Auberry scored four points, while senior Lily Pagan and freshman Bailey Ledford contributed three points apiece and senior Jacie Jensen chipped in two points. 

“We try to be balanced,” Coach Floyd said. “It’s great if you have a player that can score 30 a game. I’ve never had that. We teach our girls to play their role. We find the best shot instead of the first shot. We’re doing a really good job of finding open teammates and knocking them down. That’s a credit to the girls. They’re playing very unselfish.” 

Joplin made 15 field goals and went 13-for-25 at the free throw line. 

Sophomore guard Shaw Coburn scored 11 points to lead East Newton (0-1). Makenna Brasier and Alyssa Coffey added five points apiece for the Patriots, who went 10-for-22 at the charity stripe. The visitors were held to nine field goals.  

The Eagles, who are currently playing without junior Ella Hafer, took control early and held a 10-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Emma Floyd’s hoop in the paint gave the hosts a 14-4 cushion with four minutes remaining in the first half.

While East Newton struggled with turnovers and empty possessions throughout the first half, Joplin closed the second quarter on a 12-2 run to take a comfortable 22-6 halftime lead. 

“Our defense was good in the first half,” Coach Floyd said. “In the second half we got a little lax and started reaching more. The girls were working really hard on the defensive end. They were moving their feet, sliding over and helping. That’s going to be our bread and butter. We’re going to have to bring defense every night because our offense may be inconsistent for a while.” 

Treys from Nice and Driver pushed Joplin’s advantage to 30-8 with 5:40 left in the third quarter. By the time the third period ended, Joplin’s lead was 37-14.

The final outcome was never in doubt in the fourth quarter. 

The Eagles will compete at the Carl Junction Classic next week and then host the 24th annual Freeman Lady Eagle Classic from Dec. 10-12.

Joplin’s Emma Floyd drives to the hoop against East Newton’s Makenna Brasier on Monday night inside Kaminsky Gymnasium. Photo by Shawn Fowler.

 

Joplin coach Luke Floyd gives his team instructions during a timeout on Monday. Photo by Shawn Fowler.

 

Brynn Driver puts up a shot in traffic against East Newton. Photo by Shawn Fowler.