By Kary Booher
Mountain Grove, MO – With senior Payton Curley running the point, Baylee Bilyeu working the paint and a nice compliment of players, it’s no wonder the Salem Lady Tigers could be formidable this season.
It’s about time they realized it, their coach said in so many words Tuesday, about 10 days after a stinging loss that arguably re-set their season.
Curley scored a game-high 25 points and Bilyeu added 15 points as Salem beat Cuba 50-36 in a quarterfinal of the Mountain Grove Holiday Tournament.
“We took it to heart,” Curley said of a loss to Thayer. “It seemed like nobody had really seen our talent.”
Curley was 10 of 22 shooting, including 8 of 16 inside the 3-point line on a day when Salem was 21 of 52 shooting overall.
But that’s the Disney version. More or less, Salem took the floor ready to do damage and did just that, scoring 11 points in the opening stanza and holding Cuba to only a bucket.
Part of the reasons was a change in defensive strategy. Simply put, Salem is no longer afraid to be in other people’s faces and contest anything and everything. This for a team that is now 5-3 and plays in a 6:30 p.m. semifinal Wednesday.
“The Thayer loss gave us a wake-up call,” Salem coach Jake Reardon said. “We’ve been reading our own press clippings, and it hasn’t worked out the way it was supposed to be.”
Reardon wasn’t finished.
“We made a commitment that we were going to work our butts off,” Reardon said. “I told them the Thayer loss could be the best thing that could happen to us, or we’re just an OK basketball team. Time will tell.”
Salem’s defense clearly fueled its offense, particularly in the third quarter. Cuba sank four 3-pointers, but Salem
hit three of its own – and Curley scored 10 points in the stanza.
With Bilyeu inside as a 6-foot-3 presence – and with Salem’s wing players showing quick footwork – the Lady Tigers can keep teams off-balance on both sides of the court, as Cuba learned.
“This is the best defensive game we’ve ever had,” Bilyeu said. “We were rotating and talking out there. We were utilizing all of or people.”
Grace Steiger’s 10 points led Cuba, which plays at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Licking 65, MV-Liberty 51
The game program notes that Karlee Holland is a freshman. That’s got to be a typo.
Holland looked the part of an upperclassman in scoring a game-high 29 points as the No. 3 seed Licking Lady Wildcats rallied to beat No. 6 seed Mountain View-Liberty 65-51 in a quarterfinal of the Mountain Grove Holiday Tournament.
Licking trailed by nine points early in the third quarter before employing a full-court press defense – led by Holland — that fueled a 29-9 run over a nearly 10-minute stretch. In essence, Licking reversed a 39-30 deficit to take a 59-48 lead with 2:20 left in the game.
This on a night when senior Ashley Ingram scored 17 points, while Mountain View’s Piper Francis finished with 26 points.
“That’s kind of what we do (press defense). We have to get turnovers and have that energy. That’s why I requested our cheerleaders travel here tonight,” Licking coach Steven Rissler said. “We are not a very good half-court team, and we want to get up and get easy shots so we can get into our pressure.”
Said Ingram, “We practice it every single day, and we really want to perfect it. And we really trust each other.”
“We just got panicked there at the end,” Mountain View coach Jeff Atchison said. “The momentum switched and it was hard to get it back.”
Holland gives Licking’s strategy a chance to succeed, and her experience in summer leagues in Springfield in recent years appears to have made a smooth transition to the varsity level.
Holland’s presence clearly affected much of the game. A case in point was at the start of the decisive stretch. With Mountain View trying to corral Holland, it freed up others. Lexi Hadix’s 3-pointer and inside bucket in the final 1:50 of the third quarter gave Licking its first two leads, at 42-41 and 44-31, since early in the first quarter.
Her most important bucket Tuesday arguably came at the 4:27 mark of the fourth quarter when she raced from the back side, grabbed a miss and scored a layup.
Licking’s lead shot back to eight points, at 54-46, and Mountain View couldn’t get closer than six the rest of the way.
“It’s helped me a lot,” Holland said. “I’m just getting to play bigger teams and it’s helped me improve my game. But (in the decisive stretch), everyone made a good play.”
Licking (9-1) will play Salem at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, while Mountain View plays at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
