The 26th annual Freeman Lady Eagle Classic hit Kaminsky Gymnasium on Thursday, with the Joplin girls basketball team getting to open the festivities against Leavenworth in front of a packed gym filled with parents, teachers, administrators and the student body.
“I told the girls before the game that they better be excited for this or they should check their pulse,” Joplin coach Brad Cox said after the win. “The girls were super excited, and the fans were great. It was awesome seeing Kaminsky packed. It is such a beautiful arena. The fans helped us push through a lot of adversity tonight.”
The Eagles jumped out to a fast start with strong defense against the Pioneers before the game finished tied after the first quarter. Joplin regained the momentum in the second period thanks in large part to converting at the free-throw line. Forced to shake off adversity suffered from an injury to the team’s leading scorer—senior Brynn Driver—just before halftime, Joplin used team basketball on both ends of the floor to hold off the Pioneers for the 45-39 win.
“We have faced this kind of adversity before and that’s what I told the ladies at halftime,” Cox said. “They really stepped up and played a really great team game. It all extended from our defense. We got a lot of steals tonight jumping some passing lanes. We made a defensive change after Mount Vernon and we have two wins since then.”
ON TO THE NEXT ONE
Joplin improves to 2-3 on the season and advances to take on Farmington in the second round of the Freeman Lady Eagle Classic at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
GAME ACTION
Joplin jumped out to a 6-0 lead through the first four minutes thanks to a strong defensive effort. The Eagles got on the board with a driving score by Driver before Bailey Ledford jumped in front of a pass for a steal and a layup on the break. Driver picked off a pass at the top of the key minutes later for a score on a runout and a 6-0 lead.
Leavenworth rallied back to tie the game by the end of the first quarter on a pair of free throws from Monece Thomas, an inside bucket from Kylee West and a 3-pointer by Aviana Garrett.
After Alissa Owens grabbed an offensive rebound for a putback score to give Joplin the lead out of the break, the Pioneers took a brief 10-9 lead after Makiya Barker knocked down a 3-pointer.
The Eagles rallied back with a 12-4 run to close out the first half with a seven-point advantage.
In the run, Joplin scored field goals in the form of a steal and score on the break from Ledford as well as a 3-ball from Driver at the top of the key. The surge was also filled out with the Eagles making seven of 10 from the charity stripe over the last six minutes of the half to build a 21-14 lead.
“We talked a couple weeks about struggling from the free-throw line as a team,” Cox said. “We have taken it personally to make sure we get those free points. I told the girls that few things in life are free, so when you get free looks at the basket, you have to seize that opportunity. They have been working really hard at it and it’s showing.”
Unfortunately for Joplin, the Eagles lost Driver, the team’s leading scorer, to a leg injury for the game with 10 seconds to go in the first half.
“It’s an immeasurable loss,” Cox said. “She has been a big part of this program for four years. We don’t know the diagnosis yet, but we are hoping it is something she can recover from and get back this season. Even in pain, she was cheering us on from the sidelines. She has been a great leader for us.”
Joplin pushed the lead to double digits out of the break with the first two baskets of the second half. Ledford picked off another pass for a score at the other end before Riley Kelly knocked down a 3-pointer off the assist from Ledford for a 26-14 advantage.
Leavenworth cut the lead back to single digits with three and a half minutes to play in the third quarter on a 3-pointer from Barker followed by a driving score from Barker on the next possession to make the score 29-21 before Joplin ultimately went into the fourth quarter with a 32-22 lead off a mid-range jumper from Owens inside the final 30 seconds.
“She is super athletic and does a great job of finding the basketball,” Cox said of Owens. “For a freshman to step up on this stage in front of 2,000 people watching her, I thought that was very impressive. She is someone we are going to be relying more on as the season continues.”
Leavenworth cut the fourth-quarter deficit to five when Thomas knocked down a 3-pointer and grabbed an offensive rebound for a putback with 3:49 left to make the score 39-35. Garrett converted twice at the stripe with three minutes left to cut the Eagle lead to one possession, 39-36.
Joplin’s Izzy Yust pushed the lead back to two possessions with a pair of free-throw makes with two and a half minutes to play. After Ledford added a charity with 1:09 to play, Maria Loum iced the win with a steal at the top of the key for a fastbreak layup the other way with 50 seconds left to push the advantage to eight, 44-36.
“They put a ton of pressure on us at the end of the game,” Cox said. “We seized the opportunities that we had to go score. Bailey Ledford did a great job doing that towards the end of the game on her drives. Overall, we did a pretty good job of taking care of the ball, but there is always stuff we can clean up at the end of the game.”
SCORING LEADERS
Ledford led Joplin with 17 points, while Driver scored 12 points in the first half. Loum finished with seven points, while Owens scored six.
