Nevada girls fall

Amanda Wilson tries to get a shot off while being guarded by Neosho's Jessica Marble during Tuesday's Southwest Conference game at Wynn Gymnasium. Wilson scored a team-high eight points for Nevada but they couldn't keep pace with the Lady Wildcats, falling 53-37. The win gave Neosho a season sweep over Nevada, and dropped the Lady Tigers into a tie for last place in the conference with Webb City. [Click to enlarge]

NEVADA, Mo. -- A 15-0 run in the second half allowed the Neosho Lady Wildcats to pull away from the Nevada Lady Tigers in a Southwest Conference tilt Tuesday.

Neosho (9-14 overall, 3-3 in the Southwest Conference) scored the final 13 points of the third quarter and the first basket in the fourth as they put the game out of reach.

Nevada (13-9, 1-4) led 26-22 before the run, as their strategy to slow down the pace of the game and limit possessions worked to perfection.

The Lady Tigers methodically worked in their half-court offense, running a variety of sets and staying patient in the process. Defensively their 2-3 matchup zone was employed almost flawlessly, and the game was slowed to a snail's pace.

The strategy stopped working in the third period though, as Nevada started pushing the ball up the court on breakaways from inbounds plays.

Klinksick scored on a breakaway to make the score 24-20 with 4:04 left in the third, and after a basket by Neosho's Meghan Cook, Kristen Badgley made a layup and Nevada led 26-22.

While Nevada was temporarily able to lead with the sudden increase in pace, it was almost as if the genie was let out of the bottle as the Lady Wildcats started getting their legs under them.

Freshman Lorelei Snow hit a three from the right wing and Neosho cut Nevada's lead to 26-25.

From there it wasn't pretty for Nevada fans.

Lorelei's twin sister, Savannah Snow, drained a trey of her own to give Neosho a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Jessica Marble scored on a layup, Cook popped a three and Kylie Fischer got into the act with a short jumper and Neosho led 35-26 after the third quarter.

Lorelei Snow scored on a layup to make it 37-26 and Nevada got no closer than nine the rest of the way.

"We did a nice job of executing the gameplan for a while." Nevada head coach Brent Bartlett said. "One of the keys was taking care of the ball. We had nine turnovers in the third quarter and that's when they went on that 15-0 run."

Nevada had only seven turnovers the entire first half. They finished with 21 in the game.

"They just outplayed us," Bartlett said. "We just didn't have it tonight."

The win gave Neosho a season sweep of Nevada. Things don't get any easier for Nevada as they travel to Anderson to take on McDonald County Friday. The Lady Mustangs are currently leading the Southwest Conference and they beat the Lady Tigers 42-40 in Nevada on Jan. 13.