By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Nixa Lady Eagles got the shot they wanted, it just didn’t fall, as they came up short against top-seeded Greenwood, Ark., (44-41) in the White Division championship of the Pink & White Lady Basketball Classic on Saturday evening at Drury’s O’Reilly Family Event Center.
The title game was a rematch of the 2022 Pink Division final, also won by Greenwood (66-51). But the 2023 version was more closely contested.
“When we knew we were going to play Greenwood again, they said they had struggled against them last year,” said first-year Nixa head coach Jenny Talbert. “We kind of wanted that revenge game and I’m so proud of our effort. We very easily could have let it get away from us there right before halftime, but Lilly (Mahy) hit a big 3 to end the second quarter and that gave us some momentum and a little bit more life going into the second half.”
The Lady Eagles trailed by as many as 12 points late in the second quarter before Mahy’s 3 to cut into Greenwood’s lead (29-20) at halftime.
After a slow start to the third quarter, Nixa used a 10-0 run to take a brief lead (32-31) before Greenwood used a 5-0 spurt to close out the quarter for a 36-32 advantage.
“I was just so proud of their resiliency; they never dropped their heads, they got it back in that second half and even took a lead for just a little bit,” Talbert said. “We kind of preached to them about getting stops and getting scores and stringing them together. I think starting off the second half, we got three, maybe four straight stops – we didn’t score, but our defense stepped up. And that’s the big thing. If you can get your defense running, your offense will normally take care of itself. Once our defense kind of established that, that really helped.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
And the Lady Eagles stayed within striking distance in the fourth quarter.
With about two minutes remaining in the game and trailing by five points, Taylor Wood found Laila Grant, who scored to pull the Lady Eagles within three (42-39). Nixa drew a charge against Greenwood and promptly called time out. Wood put up a 3-pointer that missed, but followed her shot and kept the ball from going out of bounds, again finding Grant for a bucket to draw closer (42-41) with 29.8 seconds left.
Back-to-back foul calls on the Lady Eagles put the Lady Bulldogs at the line for two free throws and Greenwood was back up by three points with about 10 seconds to go.
“I was hoping we could get a steal right there, thought we might have had one right before (we) fouled,” Talbert said. “But, I was just so proud of them. They just kept fighting, kept fighting until the end. Lilly got a look there at the end, and when you’re out of time outs and you’re just trying to X and O them from the sidelines. I thought they did a great job of executing and she got a decent look. This is something we can learn from, and we’ll be better because of it.”
Mahy and Wood led the Lady Eagles, who fell to 8-3, with 14 points apiece. Laila Grant added eight points for Nixa.
“This is a great group of girls, super-coachable, super-respectful, they love to compete, they love to fight, they hate losing,” Talbert said. “That’s kind of what we said to them, ‘Remember this feeling and let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again. Let’s make this loss help us in the long run.’”
#1 GREENWOOD, ARK. 44, #2 NIXA 41
Pink and White Lady Classic
White Division Championship
At O’Reilly Family Event Center
NIXA 15-5-12-9—41
GREENWOOD, ARK. 13-16-7-8—44
NIXA (8-3) – Lilly Mahy 14, Laila Grant 8, Taylor Wood 14, Brooke Teter 2, Gwen Kubik 2, Kennedy Nash 3, Addy Ruffin 3.
GREENWOOD, ARK. (11-3) – Anna Trusty 14, Brooklyn Woolsey 10, Carley Sexton 5, Izzy Smith 4, Kylah Pearcy 11.
Third place – Marshfield 54, Glendale 46
Fifth place – Skyline 53, Republic 41
Consolation – Thayer 61, Bolivar 36
Dr. Jim Jester Sportsmanship Award – Marshfield Lady Jays
Jane A. Meyer Spirit Award – Kya Johnson, Kickapoo
