By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Visiting Nevada was able to erase Carl Junction’s first big run, but the second was too much to overcome.
The Bulldogs built a 14-point lead in the first half, watched it dwindle to 4 and then mounted a 19-3 run to put the Tigers away 60-41 on Thursday night in the championship game of the 45th Annual CJ Classic girls basketball tournament.
“It feels good,” Carl Junction coach Brad Shorter said. “This is a good tournament this year, very competitive with some good teams. It’s not going to get any easier. The Joplin tournament is going to be a bear, some really good teams in that but I’m proud of my girls. They’ve come a long way since last year and hopefully we can keep it up.”
Carl Junction, which went 18-9 last year and advanced to the Class 5 quarterfinals, improved to 3-0 this season with all three wins coming by double digits. The Bulldogs beat Neosho by 14 in the tournament opener, then topped Seneca by 17 in the semifinals. They’re ranked sixth in Class 5.
They got off to a great start on Thursday, opening on a 12-3 run while not allowing a field goal until the final second-and-a-half of the first quarter.
The lead grew to 12 after Ellie Lawson banked in a three pointer, and Carl Junction led 24-10 after a three by Klohe Burk and a free throw by Destiny Buerge. But Nevada scored the next 10 points, with Maddy Majors making a pair of three’s, and in the final minute of the first half the Tigers trailed by just four points.
“That’s a really good team and I thought our kids played hard, played well, but I think there were some points there in the first half that we could have done some things a little better,” Shorter said. “They got a couple extra looks at it, we had a few turnovers and then a few three’s that we shouldn’t allow but a lot of that is my fault because the line change wasn’t exactly what we want and we’re trying to figure that out as a staff right now, what’s going to be our best look and best rotation at what time. But our kids played really hard, I’m proud of them. They stepped up and did some good things.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Carl Junction wasted little time extending a 26-20 halftime lead in the third quarter. Kylie Scott grabbed an offensive rebound and scored less than 30 seconds in, and two baskets by Buerge made it 32-20.
Nevada, meanwhile, went scoreless on nine of 10 possessions to start the second half, only scoring on a free throw by Katie Johnson. And the Bulldogs added three pointers by Scott and Hali Shorter while building a 19-point lead.
It was 43-24 with about a minute left in the third quarter after Burk and Clara Swearingen traded three-point baskets. Nevada never got closer than 15 the rest of the game.
“They’re ranked in Class 5 for a reason,” Nevada coach Blake Howarth said. “They’re Carl Junction and they’re very capable of running on streaks like that. What we did is we settled. Instead of settling, I don’t know how long we went on a dry spell before we scored but we can’t have that. At some point we’ve got to really get into the soft spot of the zones and either get good shots or make them foul us and then get to the free throw line and at least the clock stops and we’re able to knock those down.
“We’ve got to be able to just keep people in front of us,” he said. “Destiny Buerge got it and she really looked to attack. We’ve got to do a better job of keeping good players out of the swing of the game. They did that in the third quarter, they got into their rhythm and they shot it really well tonight. This is the best I’ve seen them shoot it this tournament. Kudos to them for knocking down shots like that.”
Howarth said the Tigers will focus on boxing out for rebounds and creating more opportunities against a zone defense. But he still went home happy with Nevada’s 3-1 start to the season.
“Just talking on the radio, one year ago from tonight we were playing for the seventh-place game in this tournament,” he said. “For us to go from the seventh-place game to the championship game, that’s a huge improvement. Of course nobody wants to lose the championship game but this is a great learning opportunity for us and a great opportunity for us to grow. We have goals set for our team and in order to reach those goals we want to make sure we play the best and Carl Junction’s the best right now.”
Buerge led all scorers with 22 points and was named tournament MVP. Scott was the only other Bulldog in double figures with 10, and Burk added nine. Swearingen led Nevada with 18 points and Majors added 12. Abbey Heathman scored 8.
All-Tournament Team
Senior Aliya Grotjohn, Seneca
Sophomore Tara Masten, Parkview
Junior Maddy Majors, Nevada
Sophomore Kylie Scott, Carl Junction
Junior Brynn Driver, Joplin
Sophomore Clara Swearingen, Nevada
MVP
Junior Destiny Buerge, Carl Junction
