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Beshore, Bower combine for 29 points as Lady Tigers power past Smith-Cotton; Bartlett collects career victory No. 399
A third quarter offensive explosion lifted the Nevada Lady Tigers to a 50-36 victory over Smith-Cotton High School in a West Central Conference clash Friday night at Wynn Gym.
Trailing 20-17 at halftime, the Lady Tigers outscored Smith-Cotton 20-10 in the third quarter en route to the double-digit victory.
With the win, Nevada improves to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in WCC-play, as Lady Tiger head coach Brent Bartlett picked up career victory No. 399.
Nevada was led by sophomore point guard Calli Beshore, who finished with a team-high 16 points — and Alison Bower, as the freshman guard poured in a varsity career-high, 13 points.
Prior the second half offensive outburst, Nevada had scored just 23 point in its previous three quarters, dating back to last week’s 39-36 loss to Clinton. Bartlett said he was pleased with his team’s performance in the second half.
“We had two messages — keep shooting and start looking to drive,” recounted Bartlett of his halftime speech. “They were trying to reach and put a lot pressure on our guards. I thought our girls responded well, and offensively Calli and Alison really stepped up.”
Second half
After Smith-Cotton scored on the opening play of the second half to increase its lead to five, Nevada then proceeded to go on a 6-0 blitz via two Beshore buckets and a Lindsay Phebus lay-in, as the Lady Tigers led 23-22. Bower and sophomore forward Teagan Charles accounted for the final six points of the third quarter, as the Lady Tigers seized a 37-30 advantage, the largest lead of the game for either team.
Smith-Cotton opened the fourth on 6-2 run, capped by a Darby Christian lay-in to trim their deficit to 39-36. Bower, however, began to catch fire, dropping in seven of Nevada’s next nine points, punctuated by a three-pointer in transition from the left wing, as the Lady Tigers lead swelled to 12 points late in the fourth.
“In the second half, I saw good things,” emphasized Bartlett. “We were more aggressive offensively attacking the basket. Ali is a good basketball player; she has a good basketball mind. She lives it day-in and day-out, almost every minute of every hour.”
Christian led the way for Smith-Cotton, finishing with a game-high 21 points, with 15 coming in the first half, including a pair of 3-pointers.
“We didn’t realize she was that good of 3-point shooter,” said Bartlett of Christian, who plays the forward position. “She was looking to score, and we gave her the opportunity — and that was one thing that disappointed me.”
Bartlett, who had previously said post play was an area of concern, indicated his club made improvements in that department Friday night.
“I was happy with our post play in the second half,” he said. “I thought we rebounded much better.”
In the junior varsity contest, Nevada steamrolled Smith-Cotton 45-10, as the JV squad improves to 6-0. As of press time Monday night, requested scoring info from the game was not made available to the Daily Mail
Up next
A WCC road-contest, tonight against St. Michael’s. See Wednesday’s edition of the Daily Mail for a recap.