NEOSHO, Mo. — Two teams from Arkansas played for division championships Saturday at the Neosho Holiday Classic.
One team won.
The Bentonville girls outscored Webb City, Mo. 21-8 in the second quarter and held on for a 56-54 victory over the Lady Cardinals in the championship game of the Gold Division. Host Neosho beat the Springdale High girls 49-33 to win the Black Division.
Bentonville (7-2) used an 11-0 run to take a 33-21 halftime lead. The Lady Tigers still led 45-34 before Webb City began a comeback behind guard Mikaela Burgess, who scored 20 points. Webb City (6-3) got to within 55-54 before Burgess and Kaitlin Beason each missed 3-pointers in the finals second that would have put the Lady Cardinals ahead.
Bentonville has now won three of the past four titles in the Neosho Tournament.
“There was a stretch where we were on the back of our heels, playing not to lose instead of being aggressive,” Bentonville coach Tom Halbmaier said. “(Burgess) is a very good player, but we did enough to win.”
Kindal Coleman scored a season-high 20 points and Deanna Adkins 12 to lead Bentonville, which controlled the first half.
Adkins hit three 3-pointers to lead a 21-8 surge in the secod quarter for the Lady Tigers. Coleman got Bentonville started with a 3-pointer to break a tie. Adkins then took over from the outside and Jordan Martin scored on a driving layup to put the Lady Tigers ahead 33-19.
“Kindal and Deanna hit some big shots,” Halbmaier said. “Deanna didn’t play well the first two (tournament) games. But in the championship game, she really came on. She didn’t let those first two games effect her.”
Neosho, Mo. 49, Springdale High 33
Springdale’s demise began with a block and a steal from JaVonda Daniels, the hero of Friday’s victory over McDonald County.
Sophomore guard Brooke Stauffer made the play and converted on a foul-line jumper at the other end. Stauffer scored eight of her 11 points in the second quarter for Neosho (6-3), which used a 10-2 surge to take a 21-15 lead at halftime over the Lady Bulldogs.
Neosho continued to pull away in the second half behind Chelsey Henry, who finished with 19 points. Desiree Mack led Springdale (4-4) with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Daniels, who stole and pass and hit the winning shot against McDonald County, was held to three points against Neosho.
“We had some threes and shots around the rim that didn’t fall,” Springdale coach Heather Hunsucker said. “If some of those shots would’ve fallen, the game would have been close because our defense was solid.”
Despite the loss, Springdale continues to show progress after winning only seven games last year.
“We took two out of three against three of the better teams in the tournament,” Hunsucker said. “But that’s what we came here to do. We played quality teams and I think we learned a lot about ourselves in the last three days. We got better.”
BOYS
Bentonville 63, Fort Bend (Texas) Bush 59
Bentonville defeated Fort Bend Bush to take third place in the Gold Division of the Neosho Holiday Classic.
Malik Monk scored 23 points and Tyrik Dixon 18 for Bentonville (5-3), which earned a third-place finish in the tournament for the second straight year. Brandon Jones had 28 for Fort Bend, which finished 33-5 last season and was ranked No. 11 in Class 5A by the Texas Basketball Coaches Association rankings.
“This was a big win for our program, especially when you consider the prestige of them winning a couple of state titles and going 33-5 last year” Bentonville coach Jason McMahan said. “Getting third place in this tournament is not bad.”
Bentonville, which never led by more than five points in the entire game, led 12-11 at the end of the first quarter and 30-28 at halftime. Both teams then traded points in the third quarter, allowing the Tigers to take a 45-43 lead into the final eight minutes of play.
The Tigers will close out their nonconference schedule tonight with a home game against Pea Ridge before opening 7A/6A-West play next week at Springdale High. Bentonville coach Jason McMahan had hoped to find another game later in the week but was unsuccessful.