By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
It didn’t take long for the Kickapoo Lady Chiefs to establish how the Pink Division championship of the Pink and White Lady Classic was going to play out.
The No. 1-seeded Lady Chiefs came out of the gates firing on their way to a dominating 77-43 victory over the other No. 1 seed, Willard, on Thursday at Parkview High School.
The Lady Chiefs, who improved to 12-2, opened with a 6-0 run and outscored the Lady Tigers 22-8 in the first quarter, powered by Indya Green’s 12 points.
“I thought we got off to a really good start, and that was a key to this game,” Kickapoo coach Jim Pendergrass said. “They’re (Willard) a very good team, and very well-coached and they’ve got some really good shooters. In the first half, we were able to limit them at times to just one shot and out and making it a tough shot. And, having Indya on the bench (fouls) in the first half and still being able to pull away was a key. Even though she wasn’t in there, the rest of them stepped up their play, and they had to, so I’m really proud of that.”
With three players in the starting lineup standing 6-foot-1 or taller, Kickapoo’s length caused problems for Willard all game long, allowing the Lady Chiefs to coast to a 42-18 halftime lead.
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“Coach Pendergrass does a great job, and defensively, their length kind of bothered us,” Willard coach JJ Adamson said. “We had some nerves going in that first half and struggled to make shots. We kind of settled down late in the third and kind of got our (game plan) organized and started to get into some of the things that we like to run, but were just discombobulated in the early going.”
Kaylee Corbin, a 6-1 junior, playing in her final game for Kickapoo before she and her family move to Iowa, didn’t score in the first half, but provided a spark for the Lady Chiefs to start the third with six of Kickapoo’s first nine points.
The Lady Tigers, who suffered their first loss of the season (11-1), did make a little bit of a run in the third quarter behind Addy Adamson’s nine points, but Kickapoo had just too many weapons and took a 68-39 lead going into the fourth.
“I was proud of our team coming back there,” Coach Adamson said. “When we ran out of halftime, that was not the start to the second half that we expected. We had to call a couple of timeouts and get things settled. And then from that point on, I felt like we just kind of let the nerves go and we started to play the way that we know that we can play and things got better from that point on, but it was too big of a hole to crawl out of.”
This tournament showed just how dominant the Lady Chiefs have been, and can be, this season. For the tournament, Kickapoo outscored its four opponents 309-126.
“This group put together a really great week,” Pendergrass said. “We beat two undefeated teams the last two days (Mount Vernon and Willard), so it’s good to beat really good programs and really good teams.”
Green, a 5-11 senior, has been a big part of that success and capped off the tournament title with another double-double, scoring 19 points and pulling down 11 rebounds for Kickapoo’s first Lady Classic title (when it was the KTXR Lady Classic) since 2007. Since the Pink and White Tournament and the KTXR Lady Classic joined forces, Kickapoo has finished as the runner-up in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
“It feels really good,” Green said of winning the championship. “I really wanted this and I’m glad that we could come out and be dominant and come out with a win. I think this puts us in a really good spot for the rest of the season. I think this gave us a lot of confidence, so we just have to keep going to be dominant the rest of our games.
“I think we’re all really focused on trying to go to state or get close to going to state; I think that’s our main goal, and that’s what keeps us focused and keeps making us want to play these good teams and dominate these good teams.”
Kickapoo was awarded the Dr. Jim Jester Sportsmanship Award.
(1) KICKAPOO 77, (1) WILLARD 43
Pink and White Lady Classic
Pink Championship
KICKAPOO 22-20-26-9—77
WILLARD 8-10-21-4—43
(1) KICKAPOO (12-2) – Kaya Goldsby 8, Kaylee Corbin 11, Bella Fontleroy 12, Rachel Senn 8, Indya Green 19, Madi Barrett 8, Kya Johnson 4, Brooke Turner 4, Miya Nieto 3.
(1) WILLARD (11-1) – Ariana Patillo 6, Jada Holloman 6, Addy Adamson 14, Brielle Adamson 6, Carolina Crawford 3, Kailyn Washington 6, Morgan Hall 2.
Third place: Skyline 46, Mount Vernon 45
