By John Miller
Ozark, Mo. – The Ozark Lady Tigers have a proud basketball history. But after knocking off the defending Class 5 state champions on Tuesday night, even they got a little exited.
Morgan Doyle’s two free throws with 4.3 seconds remaining helped Ozark ice a 62-58 win over the Kickapoo Lady Chiefs. Mikayla Putt and Bre Johnson led Ozark with 14 points apiece. Jordan Wersinger had 26 points for Kickapoo in defeat.
“Considering where they’ve been the past three years,” Ozark coach David Brewer said. “Ozark is a pretty proud program … but they have been better than us (recently). They’ve the defending state champions. They’ve got two D-I quality players.”
CLICK HERE FOR KICKAPOO VS. OZARK PHOTOS
In addition to being a nice confidence booster, the win for the Lady Tigers could play dividends in district seeding next month, with both teams members of Class 5 District 11.
“It’s big,” Brewer added. “It’s big for us.”
Wersinger was unconscious early on for Kickapoo, making nine of her first 11 shots (including four 3s) and racing to 19 points by halftime.
“She can get leverage and angles on the best of them,” Brewer said. “She loves the elbows. If she can get there and pull-up, she’s money.”
But while she was on track, her teammate, University of California-Irvine commit Jordan Sanders, wasn’t. Sanders missed her first five shots on Tuesday, due in part to Ozark’s tough defense inside. She finished with 13 points and six rebounds.
“Morgan Doyle did a fantastic job on Jordan Sanders,” Brewer said. “(Morgan) was out-athleticized and out-sized and held her to 13. That’s a pretty big deal.”
Both teams matched each other step-for-step, with neither side gaining a lead of more than six points. There were 14 different lead changes and four ties.
Ozark built a 30-26 lead midway through the second quarter, but Kickapoo went on a 9-3 run, taking a 35-33 advantage with 33 seconds remaining on a put-back by freshman Leah Fredrick. But with nine seconds left in the half, Johnson drilled a 3, pulling the Lady Tigers back ahead at halftime. Johnson finished 4-for-5 from 3-point range.
In the third quarter, Sanders found her groove, scoring eight points and connecting on all three field-goal attempts. Her jumper with 4:30 remaining, pulled Kickapoo ahead 45-43, only to see it erased with a 7-0 Ozark run that gave the Lady Tigers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Trailing in the fourth, Kickapoo leaned on the play of Wersinger, but the junior fell victim to some defensive adjustments Ozark made at halftime.
“We brought the corner kids up to the elbows and said if we’re going to get beat, we’re going to make their kids make shots from the corners,” Brewer said. “We tried to keep somebody in (Jordan’s) face when she penetrated, and it worked.”
With her team down 60-58 with less than 40 seconds to play, Wersinger was forced into a tough, right-wing attempt that missed the mark. Ozark’s Doyle got the rebound, was fouled, and made both free throws, icing the win.
Kickapoo 20 15 14 9 58
Ozark 19 17 16 10 62
Kickapoo: Wersinger 26, Sanders 13, Collins 5, Jackson 4, Whittet 3, Acuff 3, Fredrick 2, Wiley 2
Ozark: Mikayla Putt 14, Johnson 14, Macey Putt 11, Braden 8, Doyle 8, Lasley 4, Easley 3
