Ozark vs. Nixa (Scott Vanscoy / February 14, 2012) |
NIXA, Mo. -- On Tuesday night the Ozark Lady Tigers defeated the Nixa Lady Eagles 41-30 in a heated COC rivalry.
Ozark jumped out early 6-0 on the Lady Eagles before Nixa could respond. Nixa struggled with turning the ball over in the first quarter and trailed 11-5 after one. In the second quarter, Nixa's defense started to pick it up by changing the defenses and the Lady Tigers had difficulty recognizing the changes. The score was 14-12 when Ozark Coach Yancey Little called a timeout. The Lady Tigers responded by going on a 5-0 run to end the half 19-12.
The second half saw the defenses continue to dominate the game on both sides of the court. While neither team's offense could get on track, Nixa managed to tie the game, 24-24 at the three minute mark of the third quarter. Ozark responded with a 6-0 run, ending the third quarter 30-24.
The fourth quarter saw the physical play increase as Ozark tried to push their way to the win, but Nixa pushed back hard. Nixa’s Coach Jim Middleton said, "It was a very physical game, but that's to be expected, that's the COC. The shots are going to fall, they just didn’t tonight. We got the shots we wanted. Our effort was there, it was perfectly good." Ozark, too, struggled from the floor but managed to go 6-7 from the free throw line down the stretch to win the game 41-30.
"It was a pretty solid game. It was surprisingly low scoring, but the last time we faced them it was low scoring and I kind of figured that would be case again tonight," said Coach Little. "Both teams play extremely physical with good fundamental defense. I thought both teams played good, hard-nosed defense. It was a very physical game, with both teams playing with a lot of intensity."
Leading the way in scoring for Nixa was Jeana Raper with 13 points. Ozark's leading scorer was Haylee Beard with 18.
