Lady Mustangs Drop Home-And-Away Series
A home-and-away series last week with two teams from Kansas wasn’t very kind to the McDonald County Lady Mustangs.
First, on Dec. 13 at MCHS, the St. Mary’s Colgan Lady Panthers of Pittsburg, Kan., handed McDonald County a 39-37 loss. Then on Dec. 15 in Baxter Springs, the Lady Lions defeated McDonald County 43-31.
Against Colgan, McDonald County trailed 29-18 late in the third quarter before staging a rally over the final 10 minutes that came up two points short. McDonald County closed out the third quarter with eight straight points, four each from Samantha Frazier and Kylie Helm to cut Colgan’s lead to 29-26 entering the fourth period.
Helm’s basket and a free throw by Ragan Wilson tied the game in the first minute of the fourth quarter, but Colgan went on an 8-3 run to take a 37-32 lead with 1:52 left.
Tricia Wattman’s short jumper and a pair of free throws by Frazier cut the lead to 37-36 before Colgan’s Shelby Pike stretched the lead to three by hitting two free throws with 20 seconds left.
Cloee Helm made one of two charities with 10 seconds left to cut the lead to 39-37 before McDonald County was called for an intentional foul with five seconds left.
Colgan missed both free throws and then threw away the in-bounds pass to give McDonald County a chance, but a last-second shot by Cloee Helm from short distance was blocked to preserve Colgan’s win.
“We had a chance to tie it in the last seconds,” said coach Blake Short. “It could have been a foul. We put ourselves in position to win but never got it done. It was a game we needed to get, but they had a lot of things go their way.”
McDonald County led 7-6 at the end of the first quarter before Colgan took a 16-9 lead at intermission.
“We started out good, but we hit a wall and just could not score for probably over a quarter,” Short said. “Colgan usually don’t shoot it that well, but they made a bunch of threes. Their first five field goals were all three pointers. I think, of three of those, we had a hand in the girl’s face, but they went in anyway. I thought our defense was pretty solid all game.
“We picked it up offensively in the second half and had a chance to take the lead but missed a free throw and then we just couldn’t get over the hump. We had our chances, but we missed too many free throws and some easy shots.”
Wilson finished with nine points to lead McDonald County followed by Frazier with seven, Kylie Helm six, Madison Hall five, Wattman four, and Cloee Helm and Leslie Yousey three each.
Taylor Swindle hit five three-pointers on the way to scoring 17 points to lead Colgan.
McDonald County, 2-4 for the season, is off until after Christmas. The Lady Mustangs begin play in the Neosho Holiday Tournament on Wednesday, Dec. 28, against Van Buren, Ark. Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m. at Neosho Middle School.
The McDonald County Lady Mustang junior varsity picked up a 34-31 over the Lady Panthers.
St. Mary’s took a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter before McDonald County rallied in the second to take a 15-13 lead at halftime. Colgan cut the margin to 26-25 entering the fourth period but was outscored 8-6 in the final period.
Rita Santillan scored 10 points and Mattie Leach had seven to lead McDonald County. Rounding out the scoring were Frazier and Meagan Mills with five points each, Aspen Bowman with four and Jordan Witt with three.
“We picked it up offensively in the second half and had a chance to take the lead but missed a free throw and then we just couldn’t get over the hump. We had our chances, but we missed too many free throws and some easy shots.”
Blake Short
Lady Mustangs coach
Colgan does not have a freshman girls’ team, so the McDonald County freshman girls played Joplin and claimed a 34-16 decision.
Santillan scored 12 points to lead the Lady Mustangs followed by Jaylie Sanny with seven, Grace Poland five, Jessica Latham four and Addy Mick, Alison Nicoletti and Alexia Estrada two each.
Baxter Springs
Baxter Springs turned a 17-15 lead at halftime into a 30-19 margin at the end of three quarters and cruised to a 43-31 win over McDonald County on Dec. 15 at Baxter Springs High School.
Riley Abernathy scored 11 points for the Lady Lions to lead all scorers.
McDonald County was led by Wilson with eight points. Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Mustangs were Frazier with five points, Caitlyn Sedillos and Wattman four each, Hall and Mills three each and Yousey and Kylie Helm two each.
The Lady Mustang junior varsity claimed a 42-30 win. Alexia Kitlen led a balanced McDonald County scoring attack with eight points followed by Frazier and Witt with seven each, Santillan six, Yousey and Mills three each and Leach, Bowman, Kylie Helm and Karen Gasca two each.