By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
NIXA – With all of the contributions Nixa’s three seniors have made to the girls basketball program, coach Jennifer Perryman had been dreading their final home game for some time.
When it finally arrived on Tuesday evening, the result made it a little easier to process.
Seniors Macie Conway, Ali Kamies and Rhianna Gibbons combined to score 46 points as Nixa completed an unbeaten run through the Central Ozark Conference with a 60-27 victory over Neosho at Eagle Fieldhouse, securing the school’s first conference championship since 2009.
Originally scheduled for last Thursday, the final home game of each player’s varsity career was postponed after winter weather swept through the Ozarks. The adjustment meant their chance to clinch the outright conference title would come at home instead of Monday at Carl Junction.
They did not disappoint, as the Eagles opened the game on a 13-0 run and never relented.
Nixa led 23-6 after one quarter, 40-15 at the half and 55-23 when the Division-II commits were pulled with one minute to play in the third, collecting one more round of applause from fans who have seen them elevate the Eagles to a level not seen since the 2009 team won the state title.
“They’re a special group,” said Perryman, who has coached the Eagles since 2013. “I’m not sure I’ve seen a more decorated class. I know what they’ve done behind the scenes. Hours and hours and hours of them in the gym and in the weight room. Working on their own. Working together. They’ve been phenomenal leaders for us.”
Conway and Kamies, who will play together at Rockhurst, and the Drury-bound Gibbons have combined to score well over 3,500 points in their high school careers. Conway leads the way with about 1,460, a total that includes her freshman and sophomore seasons at Kickapoo.
After Conway transferred to Nixa prior to her junior year, the Eagles had the firepower they needed to secure their first district championship since 2018 and their first 21-win season since 2013. But a conference championship had eluded the Eagles until Tuesday, when Conway scored 20, Kamies added 18 and Gibbons chipped in eight to end a 13-season drought.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
“This is probably the toughest conference in the state,” Perryman said. “We’ve come in second place a lot and there have been some phenomenal teams. … To come out and run the table in the COC is a big accomplishment for us. They knew they wanted to make history. They’re not done yet. They’ve got a list of goals they want to do. COC was on that and that’s the first one they accomplished, but they’ve got some more stuff they want to accomplish.”
Next on the list would be a district championship – and a berth in the state tournament.
The Eagles concluded the regular season 22-4 (9-0) and will enter the Class 6 District 5 playoffs as the No. 2 seed in an eight-team bracket involving four state-ranked schools and a fifth that’s receiving votes in the polls. They will face Joplin, the tournament host, at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Win that and they’ll advance to face either state-ranked Republic or vote-getter Lebanon in the semifinals. Barring an upset, any path out of the district will go through top-seeded, state-ranked Kickapoo, a school that has won 11 consecutive meetings against the Eagles over eight years.
“The teams we play are not going to be easy games by any means,” Gibbons said. “Just going into it, we have to know that there’s every single chance that we can go out there and win that.”
Conway said the Eagles “should be in the toughest district” to help prepare for bigger goals.
“We’ve been preparing since last season,” she said. “That’s something that we’ve focused on. Coming into this season, we’ve felt even more confident than last season. Us being the three seniors, we’ve all played together and played against each other. We all have the same mindset and goals. I think that’s the biggest thing. The drive for the team. I think we’re right where we need to be. I think the toughest district will prepare us for however far we want to go.”
Leading by example, the seniors have already taken the Eagles farther than many of their predecessors.
Kamies has scored over 1,300 career points and is tied with Gibbons for the team lead in steals. Gibbons has added about 800 points and is also Nixa’s leading rebounder.
“I’m big on player-led teams and this is the group to really go with that,” Perryman said. “We put a lot of responsibility on those three and they took it. When things went well, when things didn’t go well, when there were tough times, they took ownership. I feel like the three of them have taken the program to the next level.”
It’s somewhat fitting that the Eagles clinched the COC title on the night they honored the seniors who played such a major role in getting the team back to the top of the conference standings.
“I want to celebrate them, but it means a special chapter is coming to an end at some point,” Perryman said. “We have a lot of basketball left and we have a lot of time with them, but this is their last home game. We’ve had a lot of good memories in the locker room together. We’ve had a lot of good memories pre-game. We’ve had a lot of good memories on this floor. I am dreading just having to say goodbye to them at some point. I will follow them closely throughout their career. I’ll be their biggest fan at the next level. I always tell them ‘Once a Lady Eagle, always a Lady Eagle’ — but they’re going to be missed in more ways than one.”
The Eagles are already missing Sadie Conway, Macie’s younger sister, who was injured last week against Republic. Though her injury was initially thought to be less severe, Perryman said the sophomore guard tore her ACL and MCL and will soon undergo season-ending surgery.
“She brought us a lot of sparks and so we’re having to make up that void right now and figure out some things, but she’s a kid who just loves the game and her teammates love her,” the coach said. “It was a devastating blow for her and for us, but we’re going to figure out how to regroup.”
Fellow sophomore Lilly Mahy has stepped into a starting role in the younger Conway’s absence. Mahy added nine points against Neosho, all on 3-pointers, as the Wildcats fell to 8-18 (0-9).
“She’s really stepped up,” Perryman said. “She really settles our kids in and she’s stepped up to the call to be physical and work on her defensive stuff. So far, it’s been good.”
