Ali Sparks passed the magic number to become all-time high scorer for the Lady Eagles in Fordland’s win over Marion C. Early Thursday in Morrisville.
Sparks entered the game 11 points shy of the school record and her 14 points was good enough to get her name at the top of the list with 1453—and counting.
“Honestly I wouldn’t get there without my teammates and my coach—they all push me to be a better player,” Sparks said. “Playing with this group of girls is really exciting, especially for the Fordland community. We needed a winning team and these girls are doing it.”
Fordland head coach Kevin McDaris said even though the record belongs to Sparks, it’s a team accomplishment.
“It’s an individual accomplishment, but it’s also a team accomplishment because it takes people being able to get her the ball at the right time and in the right place where she can score,” McDaris said. “The girls really rally around her. She’s the leader and they look to her to score, but tonight we had two or three others step up to fill in the void when (Morrisville) was putting the pressure on Ali.”
Morrisville was well aware of Sparks’ ability to score and were successful in shutting her down in the first half, holding her to just 7 points before the break. But the rest of the team stepped up to prove they aren’t a one-man show with Amanda Mitchell putting up 19 points and Ali’s younger sister Sophie Sparks knocked in another 16.
Fordland increased their 7-point halftime lead to 12 by the end of the third quarter, aided by their performance at the free-throw line. After struggling from the line early in the season, the Eagles sank an impressive 25-of-31, a number that would prove crucial in the final minutes of the game.
“We’ve lost a couple of games because we didn’t shoot well from the free-throw line, so that was big for us to win a game like that tonight because of the free-throw line,” McDaris said.
Morrisville, led by two seniors, refused to give up in their final performance on their home court. The team battled back to make it a one-score game with 47 seconds remaining on the clock. Kaitlyn Painter missed the three-point shot to tie the game, but a foul on the rebound and two made free throws closed the gap to just one point.
The Lady Panthers were forced to foul to regain control of the ball, but Fordland sank two more foul shots to extend the lead. Morrisville couldn’t failed to hit the trey and the Lady Eagles took home the 71-74 victory.
“We had two very good teams here tonight and you can see by the score it was a hard-fought game,” said Morrisville head coach Mike McHolland. “I told the girls they left it on the court tonight and they did. I’m proud of every one of them and they have nothing to be ashamed of. They fought, they played hard, we just came up a little short tonight.”
With the win, Fordland improves to 16-5 on the season and will play two conference games next week—against Conway at home and on the road at Hartville.
This was the final home game for the 14-4 Lady Panthers who have four remaining road games and the Seymour tournament to go before District play begins.
Fordland 74, Marion C. Early 71
Fordland 20-19-18-17—74 Marion C. Early 13-19-13-26—71
Fordland—Amanda Mitchell 19, Sophie Sparks 16, Ali Sparks 14, Emily Whitford 12, Danielle Bailey 9, Tabitha Buttram 4
Marion C. Early—Kaitlyn Painter 33, Tabitha Francka 18, Michaela Presley 8, Casey Cossins 6, Abby Painter 6
