“We had to control the inside game,” Nixa coach Jim Middleton said. “Dapprich had 11 points the first half, but then I thought we contained a lot better and picked up the pressure in the second half.”
Dapprich was double teamed most of the night, but she didn’t need many points to reach the 1,000 mark and completed the process in the first quarter.
“I was glad I knew about the points ahead of time and got it out of the way,” Dapprich said. “The double team was frustrating, but we moved the ball around a lot to help break that up.”
The game was close throughout the first three quarters.
Branson took their first lead of the game in the second quarter. Dapprich hit two free throws to give the Lady Pirates a 22-21 lead with two minutes left in the half. On the next play Nixa’s Angie Allen hit a jumper and took the lead back for the Lady Eagles before halftime.
During two separate points in the third quarter the score was tied and the spread of points was never more than four.
With just over two minutes left in the third quarter, the score was tied at 30. Nixa’s Alexis Holt made both free throws and then on the next play made a shot down low to increase the lead to four.
With seconds left on the clock, Branson’s Sydney Shepherd made a free throw and cut the score 34-31.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Lady Pirates’ Hadley Blake made a free throw, before the Lady Eagles went on a 7-point run making the score 39-32. Shepherd stopped the run when she made a putback.
Branson 12, 10, 9, 7 --- 38
Nixa 16, 7, 11, 14 --- 48
Branson scorers— Moriah Dapprich 18, Jessie Barton 7, Hadley Blake 5
Nixa scorers—Toshua Leavitt 17, Angie Allen 11, Payton Klempel 8, Alexis Holt 8
E-Mail
Print
