Lady Mustangs Suffer Loss To Carthage
Add the Carthage Lady Tigers to the list of close but no cigar for the McDonald County Lady Mustangs.
Carthage defeated the Lady Mustangs, 50-47, on Jan. 18 at MCHS in a game that featured five lead changes and two ties in the fourth quarter alone.
The Lady Mustangs opened the final period with a 35-32 lead only to see Carthage score eight straight points to take a 40-35 lead with 5:52 left in the game.
Rita Santillan cut the margin to 40-37 with a pair of free throws before Carthage’s Sierrah Negrette made one of two.
McDonald county then scored six straight points to take a 43-41 lead with 3:29 remaining. Ragan Wilson started the run with two free throws before Santillan and Sam Frazier scored on short jumpers.
Carthage’s Hailey Fullerton answered with a three-pointer to put Carthage on top, 44-43, with 3:08 left.
After both teams missed shots on their next possessions, McDonald County freshman Kristin Penn put McDonald County on top, 45-44, with 2:07 left.
But Carthage answered on another three-pointer, this one by Lexi Black, the Lady Tiger’s seventh of the game, to take the lead for good at 47-45 with 1:50 remaining.
McDonald County came up empty on its next possession before Fullerton hit two free throws with 40.8 seconds left, to stretch the lead to four.
Megan Mills answered with two free throws of her own with 24.2 left to get McDonald county to within two at 49-47, but Fullerton made one of two free throws with 7.5 seconds left to seal the win forthe Lady Tigers.
“The two girls we said we had to stop (Black and Fullerton) scored 40 of their 50 points,” said coach Blake Short. “When the game plan says those are the two girls that we don’t let score and you continually give them open shots, it’s hard to win. We competed until the end and the girls played hard. We are scoring a little better, but our defense wasn’t as good tonight as it has been in the last few games.”
McDonald County jumped out to a 7-1 lead to start the game and led 11-5 at the end of the first quarter. Carthage used a 10-2 run to begin the second quarter, including backto-back three’s by Black, to take a 15-13 lead. But Wilson scored six points in the final four minutes of the first half to give McDonald County a 20-19 lead at halftime.
Neither team led by more than two points in the third quarter until the Lady Mustangs scored five straight points to take a 35-30 lead late in the period before Carthage’s Mia Duncan scored to beat the buzzer.
Wilson finished with 15 points and Santillan and Penn had 10 each to lead McDonald County. Mills added six points, while Frazier had four and Jaylie Sanny two.
Black led all scorers with 21 points, including five threepointers, while Fullerton had 19 to lead Carthage.
McDonald County falls to 0-13 for the season entering its Jan. 23 game at Webb City. The Lady Mustangs host Neosho on Jan. 26 at MCHS. Games begin at 5 p.m.
Carthage claimed a 31-20 win in the freshman game. Laney Wilson scored nine points to lead the Lady Mustangs, followed by Mollie Milleson with five and Caitlyn Barton, Addy Mick and Alexia Estrada with two each.