By Brock Sisney (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
CARL JUNCTION — The Willard Lady Tigers’ spurtability or ability to score points in quick succession manifested itself a few times during a 65-57 victory Friday night against Central Ozark Conference rival Carl Junction.
Willard erased a 12-10 deficit with the final 10 points of the first quarter and scored the first three points of the second for a 23-12 lead, the first double-digit lead of the night in this battle of state-ranked teams (Willard No. 2, Carl Junction No. 8 in Class 5).
Late in the first half, Willard scored six straight for a 33-19 advantage and went into halftime up 36-26 after Brielle Adamson’s trifecta at the buzzer ended Carl Junction’s own 7-0 run.
The Lady Tigers hit the Lady Bulldogs with six points to start the fourth, taking a 57-40 lead. That said, Carl Junction missed an opportunity to cut the lead to six later in the fourth and Willard made more than enough plays to keep Carl Junction at bay.
“Our kids played real hard,” Willard assistant coach Jamie Waddell — who filled in for head coach J.J. Adamson on Friday — said. “When they play hard and aggressive, good things happen for them. During that little stretch (13-0 first and second quarter), we turned it up a little bit with ball pressure on them and we were able to get some steals and transition opportunities. I thought the kids played very well during long stretches at a time. There were a few letdowns here and there, but they played well overall.
“We’re not a very big team, not very tall. We want to play fast. We feel like our offense excels whenever we’re able to put some pressure on teams and force them into turning the ball over. I thought we did that tonight, especially early. We played fast and caused some turnovers. Carl Junction’s a great-coached team, every year they’re ranked in the state, and it’s good for us to come here and get a win tonight. They played well, they fought back there at the end, and made it a real close ballgame.”
Willard improved to 16-1 overall and 3-0 COC, and the Lady Tigers return to action Tuesday for a game that will go a long way toward deciding a conference champion, when they travel to Republic to face their fellow unbeaten-in-conference Lady Tigers (13-6, 4-0 COC).
On Friday night, Willard finished with four players in double figures and just missed on five. Reserve guard Carolina Crawford poured in 15 points, Jada Holloman mostly slashed her way to 14, Kailyn Washington and Adamson each had 11, and Ariana Patillo knocked down a trio of trifectas in the first half for her nine points.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Meanwhile, the Lady Bulldogs have plenty to take away from their performance Friday night.
“We’re trying to find our way right now with our youth,” Carl Junction head coach Brad Shorter said. “It’s been that way all year. At this point, I feel like we’re starting to grow up. We’ve certainly had some injuries that have affected us. The injury to (6-foot-1 freshman) Kylie Scott hurts our rebounding and some things we’ve done to start the year.
“I thought our kids played hard. They fought until the end against a really good team. I think once we realized their speed and how to deal with it, we were OK. They had a 6-0 run in the second quarter that I think ended up being the difference in the game. Just on our press breaker, we turned it over a few times. We had way too many turnovers tonight. Good teams do that to you and they’re certainly very good, but I think that what we can take away from it is that we can play with them.”
Sophomore guard Destiny Buerge scored a game-high 30 points — highlighted by all seven points during that stretch before halftime — and Jessa Hylton and Hali Shorter each had seven, while Klohe Burk and lone senior Hannah Lee added six and five, respectively.
Carl Junction (12-6, 2-2 COC) returns home Tuesday for a rivalry game against county, conference, and district foe Webb City. In fact, the Lady Bulldogs and the Lady Cardinals have played each other for a district title the last three seasons, with Carl Junction winning all three district title contests.
