NAYLOR -- The Lady Tigers put everything together for about five minutes and dominated during that time.
Neelyville controlled the second quarter and used its press to turnover and outscore Naylor 32-15 before eventually winning 72-41 on Thursday.
"I think we just decided to play. We were kind of nonchalant in the first quarter and not really moving, just kind of standing around and finally got it going on defense," Neelyville coach Becky Hale said. "Defensively, I think we put a lot of pressure on them and were able to get some points off that."
The Tigers (9-4, 3-0 OFC) outcored Naylor by 17 points in the second quarter and by 14 points in the other three quarters combined.
"This game right here, you look at the scoreboard and people didn't watch the ball game, we take about a five-minute stretch out of the quarter where we kind of lost our head and tried to make some ill-advised passes and gave them some quick points, we would have kept ourselves in the game," Naylor coach Gene Deckard said.
For Naylor (5-8, 0-2), the gameplan coming into the Ozark Foothills Conference and 7-mile rivalry game was to get into a halfcourt offense, then shift Neelyville's defense from side to side with skip passes, eventually getting the ball inside to 6-foot, 1-inch senior Callee Pickrell.
"If we can handle the press and get it into a halfcourt game, it is hard to match up with Pickrell," Deckard said.
Pickrell led Naylor with 24 points, but didn't have a field goal during the second quarter. In that stretch she was 2 for 4 on free throws as Neelyville's press was in full effect.
"Against their press is where we struggled. We tried to pass over the top too much. That's what they want to do," Deckard said. "They are long and quick. Even if they don't get a hand on it they make you arch it trying to pass over the top and with their speed they go pick it off."
Up by 24 at halftime, double Naylor's score, Hale pulled the Tigers out of the press in the second half, but decided to go back into it as Pickrell scored all 12 of Naylor's points in the third quarter.
"I called off the press for a little bit and then Callee Pickrell just went off," Hale said. "We weren't doing anything in the halfcourt so we went back to the fullcourt and just trying to get into a groove."
Autumn Dodd led Neelyville with 24 points after getting 18 in the first half and 14 in that dominant second quarter.
"She's a quick girl and she's a great player. I think the girls look for her and know where she's at. She gets open for them and was able to score off it," Hale said.
Jentry Worley added 19 points for the Tigers, eight of it in the third quarter in the first game since both teams went 3-1 in the Lady Royals Classic, with Neelyville finishing second and Naylor taking fifth.
"When you have two freshmen and a sophomore starting and a freshman off the bench, it is hard to tell if you have rust or not," Deckard said. "But are freshmen are growing up. That was good for us tonight and we've seen that we just can't throw over the top of everybody. We have to stick to a gameplan. We got away from the gameplan in the second quarter. We panicked and that is what Neelyville makes its living on and they're good at it."
With the win, the Tigers stay perfect in OFC play. They've also beaten Clearwater and Greenville.
Naylor, meanwhile, drops to 0-2 in the OFC after also losing to Doniphan and will host East Carter and Twin Rivers next week.