Woodland capitalizes on Kelly's mistakes, secures 51-48 win

BENTON, Mo. — Like grains of sand slipping through their fingers, costly mistakes and self-inflicted errors eroded the Kelly girls’ basketball team’s hopes for victory, eventually leading to a 51-48 defeat at the hands of Woodland on Thursday, Nov. 30.

“We kind of hurt ourselves with a lot of unforced turnovers,” said Kelly coach Matthew Blissett. “That's something we have to fix moving on.”

The Cardinals (2-1), on the other hand, capitalized on every opportunity that came their way, converting their chances into points.

In addition to their opportunistic offense, Woodland also dominated the rebounding battle, securing second-chance opportunities and limiting the Lady Hawks’ (1-1) chances to score.

“Woodland did a good job of making every opportunity count on the offensive end,” Blissett said. “They also killed us on the boards. Defensively, we're still figuring some small details out. We came out sluggish but I'm still excited about our defensive potential. We did a good job of causing turnovers, we just have to learn how to turn those turnovers into points on the board.”

Woodland’s Mallary Barks finished with a game-high 22 points, while Addyson Massa added 16.

Jada Griggs led Kelly with 19, while Kristen Grogan and Ava LeGrand contributed 11 and 10, respectively.

Both teams will compete at the 2023 Chaffee Lady Devils Invitational.

Woodland, the No. 3 seed, faces No. 6 seed Puxico (0-4) on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 11:30 a.m.

Kelly received the top seed and will take on the winner of fourth-seeded Chaffee (1-1) and fifth-seeded Meadow Heights (2-1) on Monday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m.

__WOODLAND 51, KELLY 48__

Woodland 14 13 9 15 — 51

Kelly 7 11 17 13 — 48

Woodland (51) — Mallary Barks 22, Addyson Massa 16, Maci McIntyre 5, Rhodie Long 5, Tallie Johnson 3. FG: 20. FT: 7-19. F: 15. (3-pointers: Massa 2, Barks 1, McIntrye 1. Fouled out: none).

Kelly (48) — Jada Griggs 19, Kristen Grogan 11, Ava LeGrand 10, Macy Burger 3, Gwen Essner 3, Brooke Dirnberger 2. FG: 18. FT: 8-23. F: 17. (3-pointers: Grogan 1, Burger 1, Essner 1, LeGrand 1. Fouled out: none).