By Matt Turer — mturer@ky3.com
@MattTurer
Mountain Grove, Mo. — Frustration sank into Gainesville early and never let up its suffocating grasp.
A pair of blocked shots by Neelyville junior J’Kayla Fowler gave the Lady Tigers full momentum just over 60 seconds into Wednesday’s Class 2 sectional matchup, forcing tentativeness into Gainesville’s usual confident offense and building a first-half lead for Neelyville (22-4) that reached as much as 16 in its 68-51 win.
“It seemed like it got us going a little spastic,” Gainesville head coach Morris Jenkins said of Fowler’s start on the defensive end. “We took a lot of hurried shots after that and just didn’t move the ball and get it where we want to get it consistently there.”
CLICK HERE FOR GAINESVILLE VS. NEELYVILLE PHOTOS
Gainesville (28-2) trailed 31-20 at the half but pulled within seven in the third quarter at 42-35 before Neelyville closed the quarter on a 10-3 run.
Senior Michia Jenkins attempted to will Gainesville back in the second half, scoring 11 of her 22 points in the third quarter and putting up 15 total points in the second half.
“She’s a competitor,” Jenkins said. “I’ve known that for a long time. She really tried. She wanted to get on the other side of that scoreboard just like the rest of them.”
Fowler finished with 18 for Neelyville. Jentri Worley led all scorers with 27 points, scoring 18 in the second half.
Worley connected on four of Neelyville’s five 3s, each of which seemed to send a dagger through Gainesville. The Bulldogs managed to cut Neelyville’s double-digit lead to single digits seven times in the second half. Gainesville pulled within eight points three times and seven points once.
“You’ve got to give [Neelyville] credit,” Jenkins said. “They came out and made some shots and we got hurt. To our kids’ credit, we kept battling, but they seemed to make a key shot or we’d have a break down where they got an easy one or something. Just wasn’t our night.”
Annie Noah finished with 18 points for Gainesville. Senior Destiny Scott finished with six points. Gainesville’s only two seniors, Scott and Jenkins, both checked out with under 30 seconds left.
“I told every one of them in the locker room that they were champions when they walked in that door and they’re champions walking out tonight,” Jenkins said. “They’re a great group. I couldn’t ask for more out of them as a team and I’m proud to say I got to coach them this season.”
Gainesville’s only other loss this season came against Thayer, which was eliminated by Neelyville in its district title game.
FINAL: Neelyville 68, Gainesville 51
Gainesville 11 9 18 13- 51
Neelyville 16 15 21 16- 68
Gainesville- Michia Jenkins 22, Annie Noah 18, Destiny Scott 6, Shai Meek 5
Neelyville- Jentri Worley 27, J’Kayla Fowler 18, Lauren Crossen 9, Ashley Oxley 4, Rhegan Tutor 4, Michaela Eakins 4, Lexi Liau 2
