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By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
NIXA — It’s been nearly eight years since the Kickapoo girls basketball team last lost to Nixa, a dominant string of success that includes two runaway victories over the Eagles last season.
Monday’s game was significantly closer than any of the others during the stretch – coming down to the final possession – but Bella Fontleroy and the Chiefs found a way to pull out another win.
The Baylor commit led all scorers with 31 points and Kickapoo withstood a furious fourth-quarter rally to record a 59-56 victory in a showdown between state-ranked teams at Eagle Fieldhouse.
Kickapoo (11-2) led by as many as 18 points in the first half and 13 points entering the final quarter, but Nixa (11-3) went on a 15-5 run to make it a one-possession game with just under three minutes to play. The Eagles trailed by two with 42.3 seconds remaining, but missed three shots that would have tied the game, allowing Kickapoo to escape with another victory.
The Chiefs have now won 11 consecutive meetings with Nixa and have not lost to the Eagles since a district tournament game on March 4, 2014 — a span of 2,876 days and counting.
“We’ve played with and against them forever and we know that they’re never going to back down,” Fontleroy said. “We just had to step up. When they hit one, we came back down and hit one and just had to play our best basketball in that fourth quarter.”
The Chiefs also had to play that final quarter without one of the team’s top defensive players, as sophomore Kya Johnson left the game after colliding with Nixa senior Ali Kamies midway through the third. The game was delayed for about seven minutes as trainers tended to Johnson, who will be “out a while” as a result of the collision, Kickapoo coach Jim Pendergrass said.
“She’s a huge part of our team,” said Pendergrass, who had not heard an estimate for her return. “She’s one of our better defensive players – and a great player and person. Our kids really wanted to come through for her and find a way. And they did. She’d be proud of them tonight.”
Kickapoo led 39-26 when Johnson departed with 3:07 remaining in the third quarter, but Nixa more than doubled its score over the final 11 minutes and had several chances to pull even.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
A potential 3-pointer that would have tied the game with four seconds left was off the mark. Nixa was awarded a pair of free-throws after a Kickapoo player fell into the shooter well after the ball was released, but missed both – the second intentionally – and didn’t get another shot off.
“Our fight is unbelievable,” Nixa coach Jennifer Perryman said. “These kids will never give up. Tonight, I think they learned how not to back down. We kind of dug ourselves a hole, obviously. They’re a phenomenal team and they’ve got (Fontleroy) — probably who I would say is the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state — but at halftime I challenged them in specific ways. They rose up to that. They met those challenges. They really dialed in and we won the second half.”
That comeback left the Eagles feeling optimistic they might be close to turning a corner, as the three-point margin of victory was narrower than any of Kickapoo’s other 10 wins during the streak. That included 23- and 27-point victories last season, the latter of which ended Nixa’s playoff run.
This game also had postseason implications.
After competing in different districts last season, both teams now have been assigned to Class 6 District 5 — a gauntlet that has four teams that received votes in the latest statewide rankings.
No. 3 Kickapoo’s victory gives them a head-to-head victory over the No. 5 Eagles, which will play a key role in shaping matchups in a tournament that will include Republic and Lebanon.
Kickapoo has already beaten both of those schools.
“Districts are a long way away and there’s a lot of basketball to be played,” Pendergrass said. “We still have some district opponents to beat along the way — and there will be a lot of games that shake out. It’s wide open. There are a lot of teams that can win any night in our district.”
Perryman agreed.
Nixa will face Republic next month, but does not have Lebanon on its schedule. Carthage, Central, Joplin and Ozark are all also competing for district seeding and a shot at the title.
“Our goal is to play in the district championship and win a district championship and move on from there,” Perryman said. “Who we play in the first round might change. Who we play in the second round might change. I don’t know. In our district, with all of those talented teams, there’s no telling what’s going to happen in the next two months when people go head to head. That’s something we talked about, but it doesn’t change our ultimate goal – and it doesn’t change our potential either. I still think we can compete to come out of that district, but we’re going to have to do a lot of things differently than we did tonight. I think our kids are ready to do that.”
Kickapoo’s two losses have come to Incarnate Word, now ranked atop Class 6, and Class 5 No. 8 Rolla. Fontleroy did not play in the Rolla game Thursday due to what she called “a little load management,” but was excited to be back on the floor for the rivalry game – and get the result.
“It definitely gives a huge confidence boost,” Fontleroy said. “Coach Perryman is a great coach. They have really talented kids. The fact that we can come out with a new team that looks different from years past and beat them in a close game – and finish those possessions – it just means a whole lot to us. It means we’re doing the right things day in and day out.”
And with the Eagles right behind them, they have to continue to do that.Nixa’s only other losses have been to Strafford, the No. 1 team in Class 3, and a Fremont, Nebraska, team the Omaha World-Herald ranks third in that state – regardless of class.
Kamies led four Eagles in double-figures with 17 points. Macie Conway, who transferred from Kickapoo before last season, had 15, Norah Clark added 12 and Rhianna Gibbons netted 10.
“If anybody watched that game tonight, they saw a very high-level girls basketball game that was very physical,” Perryman said. “For our kids to be a part of that is special, but it’s not enough right now. They’re hungry to come out ahead. We want to keep competing. Right now, our focus is on whoever we play next. We want to play them with that same intensity that we do against Kickapoo.”
