Webb City hands Nevada girls a heartbreaking loss

Nevada Daily Mail

WEBB CITY -- A 19-point lead in the third quarter wasn't quite enough for the Nevada High School girls basketball team.

Nevada's girls suffered a heartbreaking 65-58 overtime loss on Tuesday night in Webb City, as the Cardinals rallied late for a come-from-behind win.

Nevada falls to 13-11 with the loss. Webb City improves to 12-11.

The Tigers were ahead 40-21 with two and half minutes to play in the third quarter. But the host Cardinals got hot from the perimeter, while the Tigers struggled to take care of the basketball. The game went into overtime, where Webb City outscored Nevada 12-5 for the win.

Freshman Mikayla Bartlett scored a career-high 22 points for Nevada, while classmate Morgan McNeley and junior Tori Dahmer added 15 points apiece in the loss.

With some hot-shooting early, Nevada used an 18-2 run in the first quarter to pull ahead. Bartlett scored nine in the first quarter. Nevada's big first quarter gave the visitors an 18-6 lead heading into the second quarter.

McNeley hit back-to-back three-pointers late in the second period to give Nevada a comfortable 27-11 advantage. The Tigers led 31-17 at the half.

Five-straight points from Dahmer gave Nevada a 40-21 lead with two and a half minutes left in the third quarter.

But the Cardinals scored 12-straight to end the third, hitting a couple of threes and taking advantage of Nevada's miscues.

Nevada's lead was down to 40-33 as the fourth quarter began.

After two threes from Webb's Kambrey Cooper, the game was tied at 46. Late in regulation, McNeley scored with 11 seconds to play to tie the game at 53. In OT, it was 56-all when Webb City scored four-straight to go ahead for good. Late free throws sealed the win for the Cardinals.

Nevada's girls will finish the regular season on Friday with a road date at Stockton.

The Tigers will begin district play on Monday, Feb. 20 at Harrisonville. The third-seeded Tigers take on sixth-seeded Warrensburg at 7:30 p.m. in a first round contest.

Webb City 65, Nevada 58

NE 18 13 9 13 5--58

WE 6 11 16 20 12--65

Nevada: Dahmer 15, Bartlett 22, Pritchett 0, Shumaker 0, McNeley 15, McCall 4, Good 2, Harbit 0. Three-pointers: McNeley 3, Bartlett 1.

Webb City: Beason 9, Gannaway 8, Burgess 24, Heman 12, Kam. Cooper 9, Ken. Cooper 1, Resa 2.