By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Fair Grove, Mo. — As far as 16th birthday celebrations are concerned, topping Allie Clevenger’s won’t be an easy task.
Clever’s sophomore guard poured in 9 points in the final quarter to lead the Lady Jays to a come-from-behind, 54-53 victory over Fair Grove Monday night.
Trailing 49-47 with just over 90 seconds remaining, Clever head coach Dan Jones called a timeout to set up what turned out to be the game’s biggest play.
As the ball was inbounded, Clevenger found herself alone with the ball on the right wing, and she didn’t hesitate.
“I knew I was wide open, so I just had to knock it down,” Clevenger said. “I had faith in myself, and I just saw it going through before it left my hand, and it did.”
Clevenger’s 3-point bomb gave the Lady Jays their first lead of the second half at 50-49, and Jones was quick to praise his young shooter for burying the biggest shot of the game.
“That’s Illinois,” Jones said. “We put a little extra twist to it, but we didn’t need it. If Allie didn’t have hers, we had Harper [Little] open on the other side. Everybody’s seen it, but it’s a great play.”
Big shot aside, Clevenger’s birthday night wasn’t over.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
On Clever’s next two possessions, the 5-foot-7 guard hit four free throws in a row to stretch the Lady Jays’ lead to 54-51.
“It was definitely nerve-wracking,” Clevenger said. “Whenever I got up there, I just took a few deep breaths, and I told myself that these are going in. It just felt good coming out of my hands, and I was confident.”
While Fair Grove quickly found a wide-open Harley Maxwell under the basket with five seconds remaining to cut the Clever lead to one, the Lady Eagles — out of timeouts — could only watch as Clever stood with the ball on the baseline to run out the clock.
Junior Harper Little and Clevenger led Clever in scoring, finishing with 20 and 16 points, respectively; however, Jones attributed the win to free throws and interior defense adjustments.
At the free throw line, Clever hit 12 of 14 shots, and connected on 7 of 8 in the fourth quarter, alone.
“We shoot a ton of free throws in practice — it’s ridiculous,” Jones said. “But they get real serious about it. Last game against Mt. Vernon we shot 11, but only hit 4, and it cost us the game. I think, tonight, the girls had some resolve. Tonight, it definitely saved us.”
With a formidable challenge at the defensive end, Clever needed each and every point it could muster on the evening.
The Lady Jays’ defensive game plan focused on slowing down Fair Grove’s fearsome front line of juniors 5-foot-10 Alana Findley and 6-foot-2 Harley Maxwell.
With a size advantage on the interior, Fair Grove head coach Jenny Talbert hoped to exploit the mismatch as much as possible.
“We knew that we wanted to get the ball inside,” Talbert said. “That was kind of our game plan, because we knew we’d have an advantage at the posts. I felt like we did a really good job of just focusing in on that.”
The junior duo of Findley and Maxwell combined for 47 points in the contest, but struggled late in the final minutes.
The difference?
Junior Abi Menzies.
After Clever’s interior was roughed up for much of the contest by Maxwell’s inside play, Jones had a simple fourth-quarter challenge for his 5-foot-11 forward.
No. More. Catches.
“I told Abi, ‘If they catch it any more down there, we’re done, so it’s on your shoulders to turn the basketball game around,’” Jones said. “So, Abi said, ‘All right … I’m going to work,’ and she decided the interior pass wasn’t coming in any more. When it didn’t, we were good.”
With Menzies clogging up interior passing lanes, Little and Clevenger were able to play even tighter on the perimeter.
While Findley finished with 27 points to go along with Maxwell’s 20, senior Taylor Bell was the only other Lady Eagle to score with a pair of first-half 3-pointers.
Menzies joined Little and Clevenger in double figures with 10 points for Clever.
Despite the loss, Talbert had high praise for the effort from both teams after the game.
“I thought our defense was solid,” Talbert said. “They just hit shots, and they have really good shooters. We were in front of them contesting them — and we maybe got nervous that they might drive — but they hit some big shots and that’s what good players do in moments like that.”
Both teams are back in action Thursday, Jan. 25. Clever (13-5) hosts Spokane, while Fair Grove (15-4) travels to Springfield Catholic.
Varsity Final: Clever – 54, Fair Grove – 53
Clever 14 13 08 19 — 54
Fair Grove 16 14 15 08 — 53
Fair Grove scoring: Harper Little – 19, Allie Clevenger – 16, Abi Menzies – 10, Tessa Newman – 5, Madison Gladney – 4
Clever scoring: Alana Findley – 27, Harley Maxwell – 20, Taylor Bell – 6
JV Final: Fair Grove – 45, Clever – 17
(Bailee Morgan – 16 points)
