By Pat Dailey (For OzarkSportsZone.com)
Blue Eye twins Riley and Avery Arnold continued to make quite an impact on the Sparta Tournament, leading the Lady Bulldogs to a fifth straight tourney championship Saturday.
With the Arnolds combining for 30 points, Blue Eye downed Sparta 53-38 in the final.
Along the way, the Arnolds got reacquainted with a former club ball teammate in Sparta’s Shelby McMurry. As sixth-graders, they were part of a team based out of Nixa called Impact. The Arnolds’ father, Doug, coached the team.
“It was special seeing Shelby again,” Riley said. “We haven’t played on the same court with her in a long time, so it’s good to see her and play against her. She’s a good ball player and is real competitive.”
“I really like Shelby,” Avery said. “It was fun playing with her in the past.”
The Arnolds and McMurry were all named to the All-Tournament Team.
Earlier this season, the Arnolds also enjoyed an Impact reunion while playing against Nixa’s Ali Kamies and Miller’s Kaley Helton and Claudia Hadlock.
“It’s special to see those girls again and look back and see where we are now,” Riley said. “It’s fun to look back on all those fond memories.”
At halftime Saturday, Blue Eye (11-4) looked ahead with optimism that the second half would be better for the Lady Bulldogs than the first 16 minutes.
A back-and-forth first half saw Blue Eye jump on top 10-2, only to have Sparta answer with a 17-2 run to take a 19-12 lead. From there, it was all Blue Eye. The Lady Bulldogs were up 23-20 at the half and went on to expand their lead to 41-23.
It added up to a 29-4 Blue Eye breakaway.
“By the time halftime came, we knew we could take over,” said Riley, who was named tournament MVP. “Our defense put pressure on them and we got our shots to fall.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Blue Eye started the game 1-of-9 from 3-point land, but turned things around by making 7-of-9 3-point attempts during one torrid stretch.
“They came out in the second half and both the twins caught fire,” Sparta coach Josh Loveland said. “It was bang, bang, bang and they hit three or four 3-pointers in a row and the next thing you know we’re down 16.”
Avery made a trio of 3s and had a game-high 16 points and Riley netted four 3s and had 14 points.
“We stuck with our game plan and shots started to fall,” Blue Eye coach Ken Elfrink said. “We were getting good looks, so I thought, ‘They’re going to fall, we’re going to knock them down.’ Then, we kind of did what we do. Defensively, we also did a good job of executing our game plan. They’ve got great shooters, but didn’t shoot well tonight and hopefully our defense had something to do with it. Like I always tell the kids, you’re always going to win the game on the defensive side.”
Sparta (10-4) managed just 4-of-20 3-point shooting.
The Lady Bulldogs felt fortunate Avery Arnold was able to play. She suffered a grade-two sprain to her left ankle during Blue Eye’s first offensive possession against Nixa at the Pink & White Lady Classic last week. She sat out the remainder of that game and the Lady Bulldogs’ following Pink & White game.
“Her ankle is not 100 percent,” Elfrink said. “But she’s a tough kid, Avery is determined.”
Avery started this week not knowing when she would be able to make her return. Initially, her doctor told she would be courtside for three weeks.
“I didn’t know I was going to be able to play until the day of,” Avery said, referring to Blue Eye’s tourney opener Wednesday. “I went to see the witch doctor and she worked her magic. I’ve fought through several injuries before, so when I was told three weeks I was like, ‘Nah, it’s only going to be a week.’ But it really shocked me when I had this injury because I’d never had a sprained ankle before.”
“She kind of hides (her pain), so no one really knows how she’s feeling,” Riley said. “She gets after it, anyway, and we’re glad for it. We’re happy she’s out here with us. It would be a lot different if she wasn’t playing.”
In addition to the Arnolds and McMurry, the All-Tournament Team included Blue Eye’s Kyla Warren, Sparta’s Megan Brown, Hartville’s McKinley Sanders and Molly Brown, Chadwick’s Kerrigan Guerin, Greenwood’s Hannah Gibbons and Camryn Parker and Norwood’s Cassie Chadwell.
Blue Eye 53, Sparta 38
SPARTA (38) — Fulton 1 1-2 4, A. Roller 1 0-0 3, B. Roller 1 2-2 5, Youngmon 1 1-2 3, McMurry 4 6-7 15, Holt 1 0-0 2, Brown 2 2-3 6.
BLUE EYE (53) — A. Arnold 4 5-5 16, R. Arnold 4 2-2 14, Fairchild 2 0-0 5, Warren 5 2-2 12, Johnson 2 0-0 4, George 1 0-0 2.
Sparta 12 8 8 10 – 38
Blue Eye 10 13 20 10 – 53
3-point goals – R. Arnold 4, A. Arnold 3, McMurry, Fulton, A. Roller, B. Roller, Fairchild.
