February 11, 2018

The Lady Tigers' run atop the Ozark Foothills Conference has reached decade status. With lots of 3s and lots of defense, Neelyville won its 10th straight Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament championship with an 81-49 victory over Twin Rivers on Friday at the Bess Activity Center...

The Lady Tigers' run atop the Ozark Foothills Conference has reached decade status.

With lots of 3s and lots of defense, Neelyville won its 10th straight Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament championship with an 81-49 victory over Twin Rivers on Friday at the Bess Activity Center.

"It felt pretty great. To hold it for a decade, that's amazing," said Neelyville senior Mackenzie Hobbs, who along with fellow senior J'Kayla Fowler can graduate with just one loss to an OFC opponent in four years.

"We had to work hard for it. It was exactly what we wanted," added Fowler, who had 10 points.

When the run started in 2009, that title was the program's first since 1986, which coach Becky Hale played on. With the Neelyville boys winning its first OFC tournament since 1984, it is the first time the same school won both titles since Doniphan did it in 2007.

"All of them are pretty special. Any time we come out here and make ourselves better ... these girls work hard and they work hard for each other. Seeing them come out here and get what they deserve is pretty special," Hale said.

Chelsea Maupin was a big part of those first three championships. After she graduated, a freshman Shelby Moon made a last-second shot to beat Twin Rivers by a point. Moon anchored another three championships. Jentri Worley, currently a junior, has been the team leading scorer for the two seasons following Moon.

Twin Rivers and coach Kelly Westerfield have lost in the championship five times in the past 10 years. The Lady Royals last won the OFC Tournament in 2002. Before this year, Naylor lost three straight. Clearwater (2014) and Greenville (2009) also lost to Neelyville in the final.

Neelyville has won seven of the championships by at least 10 points, but Friday's 32-point win was its largest margin. Between tournament and regular season games combined, Neelyville has won 33 straight OFC games, dating back to January 2015.

The Tigers sank four 3s before Twin Rivers scored a point Friday. Eight of their 13 field goals in the first half were 3-pointers and they sank 12 total 3s.

"We ain't afraid to shoot it, that's always been the case. I think when you are blocking out and rebounding the shooters feel more confident," Hale said. "I think our confidence was up tonight just because we were blocking out."

Neelyville (20-4) opened both halves with big runs. They scored the first 16 points of the game, and after a quick basket from Twin Rivers to start the second half, went on an 18-point run and were ahead by 30 late in the third quarter.

In the first six minutes of each half, Neelyville outscored Twin Rivers 34-2 and won by exactly that amount.

"Once they got a feel for it a little bit, they settled in and started playing," Westerfield said. "It was just confidence. It is the same plays, same setups. Just dribbling the ball stronger, catching stuff, not bobbling it, being more physical under the bucket, getting block outs, getting some defensive stops. Just not letting this team that has all this talent that has moved in dominate us."

Worley made four 3-pointers and finished with 22 points. Autumn Dodd also made four 3-pointers and had 20 points. Tori Harlow had three 3s and got 11 points for the Lady Tigers.

Katelyn South had 32 points for Twin Rivers and 82 for the tournament, putting her two points shy of passing her coach for third all-time in career scoring at Twin Rivers. South had 24 of Twin Rivers' 33 points in the middle two quarters.

"I'm proud of my girls that are loyal to their fans and our program. They play hard, we make plenty of basketball mistakes that we need to fix to win big games. We just have to keep grinding and handle pressure and keep pushing ourselves to get better no matter what we are stacked against," Westerfield said.

The Lady Tigers opened the game with four 3s from three different people, a field goal by Fowler, and a pair of free throws before Twin Rivers scored its first points.

"We came out fired up and we were trying to block out and rebound and stay in front of them in the press when they were bringing the ball down the floor," Hale said.

Twin Rivers (15-9) started to find its footing in the final two minutes of the first quarter and put up nine points, but was still down 11 at the buzzer.

The Royals opened the second quarter with a steal and a layup by South to get back within 10 points, but then the Lady Tigers put together a 10-point run that included back-to-back 3s off turnovers.

South made a jumper and then the 3-point fest continued.

Katie Baxter, then Worley, then South, then Dodd. All in a row for 12 points in a minute.

With the clock winding down, South sank a pull-up 3 to set the halftime score.

Dodd and Worley each had three 3-pointers in the first half while Twin Rivers had three as a team.

Neelyville opened the second half like it did the first, with a dominant run. Where the first run was marked with 3-pointers, the second was filled with aggressive drives to the basket and free throws.

The Tigers also had three offensive rebounds off missed free throws during the 18-point run.

As before, the Lady Royals settled in around the two minute mark and played even the rest of the way.

"At the end of the day, we can hold our head up high and know we have behaved in a respectable way. we don't have a win-at-all-cost attitude," Westerfield said. "We use this game and these obstacles to make us better people and prepare us for the real world."

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