Lady Tigers roar in win over Twin Rivers

NEELYVILLE — The Neelyville Lady Tigers pushed their opponents to their limits with high-pressure defense.

As both teams prepare to participate in the annual Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament which tips off this upcoming weekend, snatching a win in this matchup was the No. 1 priority.

The Lady Tigers utilized their full-court pressure defense on Monday to halt the Twin Rivers Lady Royals in their tracks to walk away with a 57-35 and improve to 8-7 on the season.

Sophomore Parker Ernst led the Tigers with 18 points and multiple rebounds.

Ernst said with the OFC Tournament coming up, getting a win over the Lady Royals was what her team needed after struggling in its last few matchups.

“It was big for us to land a win over a team in our conference,” Ernst said. “The first half was kind of sloppy for us, and we got our butts chewed out by our coach about our effort. This is definitely a confidence booster after taking some tough losses against some top-tier teams recently. I think we were locked in on defense, and our mission is always to rattle our opponents with pressure.”

The Lady Tigers got rolling early with an easy bucket in the post from Ernst, but the Lady Royals responded with a basket of their own from Anne Mittelstadt. The game stayed even for most of the first quarter as each team struggled to get much going offensively.

The Lady Tigers quickly gained the upper hand as Twin Rivers got in early foul trouble, giving Neelyville multiple opportunities at the charity stripe. Though both teams matched evenly on the court, the momentum shifted toward the Lady Tigers with the addition of a full-court press.

The Lady Tigers ended the first half with a series of baskets to hold a 32-18 lead going to the locker room. Despite Neelyville having complete control of the game, the Lady Royals quickly regrouped and hit the floor with a new attitude. The problems of getting the ball down the floor shortly became an afterthought as Twin Rivers began to find its stride with scoring in the paint.

Regardless of any offensive run or defensive strategy that Twin Rivers threw at the Lady Tigers, they handled it without breaking a sweat and had an easy ride to victory.

Layni Dobbins helped the Lady Tigers to victory with 13 points, Makynli Day added six and Madelynne Prosser, Alaina Prince and Jade Crosswhite each had five.

Lady Tigers head coach Becky Hale said the team has been in some tough matchups in their last few games, but she said the key to getting better is to play through all adversity thrown their way.

“We were a little out of sync in the first half,” Hale said. “Last week, we played four games in a row, and maybe we’re a little tired, but we just got to learn how to be more mentally tough. We have really relied on our defense to get us over the hump because we’re not the best shooting team. I just told them to pick up the pace and keep working hard, and we will walk out on the right side of this game.”

Hale said the Lady Tigers are ready for the OFC Tournament, and their goal is to win one game at a time and hopefully find their path to the championship game.

The Lady Royals were led by Reese Crismon, who had 11 points, while Lilly Oliver finished with six.

The Lady Tigers will host Woodland on Wednesday, while the Lady Royals play Woodland on Friday.