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Dawggone it: Neelyville, Greenville lose in girls tourney
By ROB TATE ~ DAR Sports Writer
VAN BUREN -- After scoring 65 points in the first round of the Van Buren Lady Dawg Classic, top-seeded Couch looked like a force to be reckoned with on the offensive end.
Neelyville played tough defense on Couch for four quarters Thursday night in the semifinals, but just couldn't get the offensive touch needed as the Lady Indians rolled to a 38-22 victory.
"They had (Chelsey) Maupin covered up pretty good and they spread the floor real good," Neeylville coach Becky Hale said.
At times, Couch doubled up on Maupin, who scored 11 points in the Lady Tigers' first round game against Alton, in the post opening up some shots for Neelyville on the sides.
Although they got good looks, the rims were unfriendly all night long.
Neelyville opened up the game with a 5-2 lead in the first 2 minutes. But from 5:57 on in the quarter, Couch kept the Lady Tigers off the scoreboard and mounted a lead of its own. The Lady Indians scored eight straight points, four of which by freshman Lizzie Nessling, to take a 10-5 lead into the second quarter.
After Neelyville's Maupin hit a 2-pointer to begin the second quarter, Couch then rallied off an 8-2 run to extend its lead to 20-9.
The Lady Tigers took some momentum into halftime however as Jackie Griffin hit a 2-pointer at the buzzer to make it a 20-13.
Hale picked up the pace on defense in the second half as she implemented a full-court press on the Lady Indians. But every time it seemed like they had them caught, Couch found an open player and score through.
In the second half, whenever Couch needed a big bucket it was almost certain to come from either junior Whitney Mills or Nessling. Mills scored nine of her 15 points on the night in the second half and Nessling had four of her eight points in the quarter.
"Whitney (Mills) is a junior for us and a starter since she was a freshman so we like to go to her" Couch coach Cecil Meyer said. "She didn't shoot as well as we like her to but when we needed a bucket she got it.
"Lizzie--she's a freshman for us this year that has stepped up for us in a starting role and she made some big baskets for us tonight," Meyer added.
The physical play and intensity on defense really picked up on both ends of the floor in the fourth quarter. The Lady Indians held Neelyville to just two points in the quarter while the Lady Tigers held Couch to just six points.
"They're young and scrappy and got after it hard," Meyer said of Neelyville. "But we had a hard time adjusting to that. In the second half we adjusted to the pressure."
Meyer refused to talk about just what his defensive gameplan was that held Neelyville to just 22 points on the night. But who could blame him with another matchup with the Lady Tigers looming next Tuesday.
Hale on the other hand felt that her defensive pressure with the press working was good but they just couldn't convert on the other end.
"We're pretty quick and sometimes we have to use our quickness to our advantage because we don't have a lot of size," Hale added.
Neelyville had 16 rebounds as a team on the night led by Griffin who had seven. But the Lady Tigers turned the ball over 26 times to the dismay of Hale. McElhaney each had five points on the night to led the Lady Tigers.
Couch moves on to play Thayer in the championship game Saturday Night at 8:30 p.m. while the Lady Tigers will battle conference foe Greenville in the third place game at 7 p.m. the same night.
Thayer 59, Greenville 39
After keeping up with Thayer in the first half and getting off to a great start in the second, the Lady Bears just couldn't hold on in the second semifinal Thursday night at the Lady Dawg Classic.
Greenville played the Lady Bobcats to a 12-12 tie after the first quarter, trailed by four at the half and rallied to within one point at the start of the third quarter until Thayer went on a tremendous run offensively.
Greenville junior Tara Porter scored three straight buckets in the third quarter to pull Greenville to a 31-30 deficit. But the Bobcats went on a 16-0 run that extended into the fourth quarter and overall went on a 28-9 run to end the game.
"When things started going bad, some of us thought we were done," Greenville coach Diane Meyer said. "We gotta not let things get into our heads."
Thayer was led by Micah Stevens' 22 points while teammate Kaley Hebert added 14 and Kristen Earls chipped in with 10. The Lady Bobcats attempted no free throws and at one point in the first half were down in fouls, 7-0, to the Lady Bears.
"I felt it was to their advantage," Meyer said of Thayer's no attempts from the line. "Their starting lineup is four 5-foot-3 girls and one 5-foot-4. It was one of those things where we weren't playing half as aggressivley as they were. They're an awesome team. We're good but not that good yet and we have that potential to be that good."
Greenville had tremendous inside play by Porter who ended the night with a season-high 22 points.
But the Lady Bears simply needed more offense in the second half and couldn't contain the high-powered Thayer offense.
Porter was the only Lady Bear to score in the third quarter and also scored five of the nine team points in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Andrea Becker, who totaled 13 points, was the first Lady Bear to score a point other than Porter in half when she made a 2-pointer with 1:15 to go in the game.
"Tara stepped up the way she's gonna have to every game," Meyer added. "She didn't even bring it all out last night."
Twin Rivers 48, Van Buren 40
The Lady Royals rebounded nicely in the consolation semifinals after a tough loss in the first round of the Lady Dawg Classic.
After trailing 34-29 going into the fourth quarter, the Lady Royals got the offense cooking and the defense held tight as Twin Rivers went on a 19-6 run to close out the game.
Twin Rivers (1-1) was led by Kelsey Snider's game-high 16 points on four field goals, a 3-pointer and went 5-of-10 from the free-throw line. Senior Torey Davis contributed 12 points and Stephanie Jennings added nine.
Van Buren had two players score double digits as Jonna Crider had 13 points and Mackenzie Scott added 11 points.
Alton 51, Ellington 32
After a slow first half in which the Lady Whippets scored just eight points, Ellington outscored Alton 24-21 in the second half Thursday night in the Lady Dawg Classic consolation round.
Ellington's Whitney Morgan had a solid second half as she scored a majority of her gamehigh 25 points as she dominated the paint on the offensive end.
Alton was led by Alex Hower who had 12 points and Jessica Bailey who scored 10 points including two 3-pointers.
The Lady Comets will take on Twin Rivers in the consolation final at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.