NEOSHO HOLIDAY CLASSIC

Springdale steals one, advances to final

NESOHO, Mo. - The Springdale High School girls team hasn’t played in a championship game of any sort for about 10 years.

That will change today when the Lady Bulldogs play for the championship in the Black Division of the Neosho (Mo.) Holiday Classic.

Springdale advanced in dramatic fashion Friday when JaVonda Daniels stole an inbounds pass and beat the buzzer with a layup to give the Lady Bulldogs a 40-38 victory over McDonald County, Mo., at Neosho Middle School.

Springdale (4-3) will face the winner of Friday’s late game between Neosho and Carthage, Mo., in the Black Division final, which is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. today at Neosho High School.

“To make plays down the stretch, you saw a team thatmaybe couldn’t do that two weeks ago,” Springdale Coach Heather Hunsucker said. “So, you’re seeing a team before your eyes starting to grow up and learn from previous games.”

Daniels helped Springdale to an early lead by hitting three of her four three-pointers in the first half, but her steal and driving layup was the biggest play of the game.

Desiree Mack made a big contribution by twice knocking the ball out of bounds on an inbounds pass with 8.4 seconds left in the game. McDonald County (4-4) then switched to center Preslea Reece for the inbounds pass, but she still had to throw high over Mack with 7.7 seconds left.

“We put Desiree Mack on the ball, and she’s real hard to throw over,” Hunsucker said. “She created that, and [Daniels] made a beautiful play on the ball. She then realized how much time was left and went and made a play.”

Daniels had 14 points and Mack finished with eight tolead Springdale. Reece scored 21 to lead McDonald County, which used a late basket to beat Pierce City, Mo., 38-37 in a first-round game.

“I fully believe [Springdale] is the best team in the tournament,” McDonald County Coach Blake Short said. “They’ve got some firepower, and we couldn’t have played any better defensively against them. We just didn’t finish the way we needed.”

Daniels made 3 three-pointers to help Springdale take leads of 11-2 and 22-15 in the first half, but Reece took control inside as McDonald County rallied to take a 28-24 lead.

Springdale trailed 38-36 when Chasidee Owens grabbed a rebound and scored her only basket to set up the winning play.

BENTONVILLE 56, EAST NEWTON (MO.) 45

The Bentonville girls team picked a good time to get on a roll.

Bentonville outscored East Newton, Mo., 15-2 to open the second half on the way to a victory over the Lady Patriots. Bentonville will play for the championship in the Gold Division at 5:30 p.m. todayagainst Van Buren or Webb City, Mo., at Neosho High School.

East Newton (6-3) cut its deficit to 26-24 going into halftime after trailing for much of the first half, but the Lady Tigers turned it on again to take a 43-33 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Kindal Coleman led the surge with two three-pointers and a driving layup. Heather Brown added a three-point play and two free throws to prompt an East Newton timeout with 4 minutes, 51 seconds left in the third quarter. That pause didn’t slow Bentonville, which widened its lead to 41-26 after a layup by Jordan Martin.

Martin finished with 16 points, mostly on driving layups, to lead Bentonville. Coleman followed with 13 and Brown added nine.

East Newton used some pressure defense to take a brief lead in the first half. Bentonville was leading 23-21 when Laura Hopper made two jumpers. The Lady Patriots then turned consecutive back-court steals into baskets by Emily Brummett and Aubrey McDermott.

Following a timeout, Bentonville made four consecutive free throws to end the first half then blew open the game with its third-quarter surge.

Only an off-balanced three-pointer at the buzzer by Ellie White allowed East Newton to get to within 10 after three quarters. But Bentonville pulled away again behind Martin.

White finished with 10 points to lead East Newton.

Sports, Pages 23 on 12/28/2013

Upcoming Events