OFC Tourney: Naylor pulls away with balance to beat Lady Royals

GREENVILLE - Two teams separated by very little and identified by similar small roster numbers for a myriad of reasons provided fans of the Ozark Foothills Conference the most intriguing quarterfinal game on the opening day of its tournament.

Ultimately, No. 5 Naylor used a burst to start the second half to gain some breathing room and used that to pull away for a 50-32 win over No. 4 Twin Rivers gaining revenge for a loss earlier in the season and advance to 6 p.m. Monday’s semifinal against No. 1 Doniphan.

Zoey Sprous (19 points), Harley Sullivan (15 points), and Chloe Mitchell (14 points) paced the Naylor victory.

“We didn’t change anything structurally, but we seemed to play a lot harder in the second half and it allowed us to chase down the rebound,” Naylor head coach, Logan Foster said. “It allowed us to move up the floor and Zoey made some shots from outside and that gave more room for Chloe, and that makes all the difference in the world.

“We were rebounding better in the second half when in the first half there were so many balls hit the floor and we didn’t get it. We just played harder.”

Leading the Lady Royals were Amelia Douglas (10 points), Anne Middlestadt (eight points), and Reese Crismon (six points).

It was the game most expected right out of the gate as the two teams battled back and forth. Naylor built a small cushion of 17-13 after eight minutes thanks to the 1-2 combination of Sullivan and Mitchell.

The second quarter was more of the same and the teams would give no wiggle as the Lady Eagles led 27-23 at the intermission.

Naylor started the second half with a bigger sense of momentum as it edged out to a 34-25 lead on a Sullivan and-one.

The Lady Eagles seemed to build off the early energy after the break and found their way to the rim plenty of times and converted enough to lead 39-27 heading into the final quarter.

Twin Rivers tried to put a dent in its deficit but to no avail, as the outside game wasn’t rewarding the Lady Royals and the Naylor defense refused, to give up many confidence shot opportunities as its lead stayed static.

A Sprous triple just north of the 2-minute mark pushed the Lady Eagles out to a 50-30 lead and that put a stamp on the Naylor win.

“It’s so nice to have that balance,” Mitchell said. “With them being able to shoot it from outside and keep them from standing in the lane and guarding me with three people It’s easier for me to attack.

“Coach gave us a speech in the locker room (at halftime), it was about effort, and it’s always about effort. It’s a great motivator for Monday.”

EAST CARTER 79, Greenville 10

East Carter broke out to a dominant 49-4 lead by halftime in route to an easy win over Clearwater to advance to Monday’s 7:30 p.m. semifinal against Neelyville.

The No. 2 Lady Redbirds were led by Breanna Dohleman (24 points), Brooklyn Kearbey (20 points), and Parker Golden (19 points).

“It’s hard to play some of those games like that, but our main goal was to focus on our defense,” East Carter head coach Angela Rodgers said. “We worked on a couple of things so we can add some variety to the next week and for the rest of the season. We set a high rebounding goal this year, we want to push ourselves higher, and I thought we did good with that.

“Definitely in the past, we have played down below our level and we want to get change that. Sometimes it’s hard because yeah, we’re winning, but is it always quality basketball?”

Clearwater was led by Makinlee Keister who scored four points.

“We didn’t show up and we are so young and inexperienced compared to them,” Clearwater head coach Lexi Morris said. “What we are trying to do is build our program up so we can become competitive for next year.”

NEELYVILLE 88, Greenville 32

The No. 3 Lady Tigers got the edge right out of the gate and overwhelmed a shorthanded Lady Bears team in a quarterfinal encounter.

Neelyville was paced by multiple double-digit performances by Parker Ernst (21 points), Layni Dobbins (19 points), Reese Dobbins (13 points), and Addison Couch (10 points).

“Everybody that came in played well, but we have to block out and rebound better if we are going to get through the next round,” Neelyville head coach Becky Hale said. “We are playing hard and we always give it our all. We are starting to hit some outside shots a bit more and knowing when to go inside.”

Greenville’s Brianna DeSpain (15 points) and Matti Looney (12 points) led the team’s scoring efforts as the Lady Bears were down to five at the start due to injuries and other issues and at times had to play with four.

“Neelyville came out and hit shots and they played well,” Greenville head coach Chris Hahn said. “We had to battle through some adversity and we actually scored more with four players than we did with five. Credit to the four girls who stayed out there and played hard.”