LRC: Clearwater rallies, upsets fourth-seeded Neelyville

BROSELEY -- Clearwater picked the perfect time to have its best third quarter of the season Saturday.

Trailing by 13 at halftime in the opening round of the Lady Royals Classic, the 13th-seeded Lady Tigers surged past Neelyville for a 52-49 upset of the fourth seed.

"We've had a bad third quarter in every game and our goal was to come out and not to have a bad third quarter," Clearwater coach Brandi Moore said of the halftime adjustment.

Clearwater, which will play fifth-seeded Naylor at 4:30 p.m. Monday in the quarterfinals, ended the third quarter by scoring 15 straight points to overcome a 38-25 deficit.

Neelyville (6-3) built its lead with a full-court press that led to 16 points off turnovers in the first half alone. But Clearwater (4-1) used that press to its advantage in the final 5 minutes of the third quarter, getting six fast-break points and five second-chance points during the rally.

"We ran the same thing, we just kind of slowed it down," Moore said.

Emily Miller scored 11 of her 23 points in the third frame while Janna Payton scored eight of her 10 points to help give Clearwater to a 40-38 lead.

Lindsey Emerson scored 19 of her game-high 30 points in the first quarter for Neelyville, which led 21-9 heading into the second quarter.

"We didn't want the ballgame bad enough," Neelyville coach Becky Hale said. "That's all there is to it."

Neelyville's Jessica Uhl got a steal and layin to tie the game at 42-42 with 6:10 left in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Tigers missed an opporutnity to take the lead twice.

Clearwater's Lindsay Bell got steals on consecutive possessions leading to baskets by Maggie Hill and Miller for a 46-42 lead.

Neelyville pulled to within two points twice but each time Clearwater answered after taking time off the clock.

"We don't really have a go-to girl that can score, so when we get the lead late in the game, we just try to eat away as much time as we can," Moore said. "They're learning."

Erica Woods hit a layup off a pass from Bell as Neelyville attempted to trap the Lady Tigers into a turnover. Clearwater led 50-46 with 85 seconds left but Neelyville missed a pair of shots before the teams traded a free throw.

Neelyville forced a jump ball for a turnover with 47 seconds left and Emerson got a putback to pull the Lady Tigers to within 51-49. After Miller hit one of two free throws with 13.7 seconds left, Neelyville set up for the final shot.

Uhl took an inbound pass in the left corner but her back foot was on the sideline turning the ball over. However, the sophomore stole the inbound pass at halfcourt, dribbled and got off a desperation shot that just missed the mark.

"We just looked like we had concreate in our boots (and) couldn't get anything going," Hale said.

Neelyville hit 9-of-25 shots in the second half, missing all six 3-point attempts. The Lady Tigers were without point guard Jackie Griffin for much of the second half after she picked up foul No. 4 near the end of the third quarter and fouled out with 2:47 to go.

Clearwater, which outrebounded the Lady Tigers 29-22, trailed 30-17 at halftime but pulled to within seven by scoring the first six points of the second half. Neelyville scored the next six points before Clearwater started its run.

The 13th-seeded Lady Tigers will next face another Ozark Foothills Conference foe in Naylor after avenging its only loss of the season, a 19-point loss to Neelyville.

"It's huge for these girls," Moore said. "The last few years they havn't won a lot so we're trying to sell them that they can play with these programs."