By Jordan Burton (for O-Zone)
The drought is over…
After two consecutive years of not defending their own tournament, Walnut Grove topped Fordland 68-48 to claim its first Walnut Grove Holiday Classic title since 2014.
“We did a great job, that’s a great team over there,” said Walnut Grove coach Rory Henry. “I’m proud of my team and the way they came out.we gotta learn to close out games better. I feel like we let up a little bit at the end of that. It’s been a long week, people don’t understand when you host a tournament like this, it wears out you and your kids. I know they’re tired but they came out with a really great win and I’m proud of them for that.”
The win came in what has become typical Lady Tiger fashion.
Defense.
Bayley Harman and Faith Gilkey scoring.
More defense.
Harman and Gilkey continue to emerge as one of the area’s top scoring duos. Harman, who was named the tournament’s MVP, finished with 11 points while Gilkey, one of the top freshmen in Missouri, poured in a career-high 32 points.
The unique aspect is that Harman, who recently scored her 2,000th career point, is having an incredible senior campaign on a torn ACL.
“Bayley is just a tough kid, the fact that she has a torn ACL and can do the things that she continues to do is amazing,” said Henry. “It would be tough to not have her leadership, and tonight she stepped up and hit big shots when we needed it. I’m proud of the way she’s led our team this year.”
Harman’s 3-pointer to beat the first half horn gave Walnut Grove a 29-15 halftime lead. The Lady Tigers then ended the third quarter with another surge, opening up a 49-29 advantage.
Fordland rallied in the fourth, cutting the deficit to as few as 12, but ran out of gas late.
The rally was keyed by junior guard Sophie Sparks, whose back-to-back triples gave the Lady Eagles some signs of life.
Sparks finished with 18 points.
“She so quick, she can create her own shot and she can shoot from anywhere,” said Henry. “She’s an excellent player. Looking at her scores coming in we knew we would have our hands full.
“Faith is an excellent defender, but when you can take a guard like that and go score almost 20, you’re one heck of a player. She got going in the fourth quarter and got them back in it.”
Abi Southard added 17 points for Fordland.
Currently ranked No. 10 in Class 2, the Lady Eagles two losses have now come to Class 1 No. 1 Walnut Grove and Class 2 No. 6 Blue Eye.
Fordland continues to build a schedule and resume worthy of a team with Final Four aspirations and Saturday was just the latest step.
“We like the uptempo style and a lot of times that’s our game plan,” said Fordland coach Kevin McDaris. “They’re similar to us except their bigger stronger and more physical, that’s the kind of team we struggle with.
“We tried to put some tougher teams on our schedule so that we could prepare for those big games. We have made some progress.we have got to learn to score on a slower pace game.”
The schedule gets easier for neither team. Walnut Grove will host Class 4 Rogersville on Thursday. Fordland will visit rival Mansfield on Jan. 8.
