MOUNTAIN GROVE, Mo. --There were turnovers and foul trouble, missed shots and defensive breakdowns. But the Neelyville girls basketball team overcame it all Wednesday night in the MSHSAA Class 2 sectional playoff.
The Tigers put together a 10-3 run midway through the fourth quarter to pad a six-point lead and finally shake pesky Hartville 64-49 at Mountain Grove High School.
"We certainly didn't play well but we played well when it matters most," Neelyville coach Becky Hale said. "It keeps us alive, keeps us going to another game so hopefully we'll get it done."
The Tigers (23-4) advanced to the state quarterfinal for the sixth straight year and will get another shot at Oran, which edged Neelyville 72-69 last year. The Eagles (23-4) and Tigers will tipoff at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Bess Activity Center on the campus of Three Rivers College.
To reach the Show-Me Showdown for the second time in three years, the Tigers will have to beat a third straight ranked opponent. After knocking out unbeaten, No. 2 Thayer in the district final, Neelyville ousted the sixth-ranked Eagles.
Hartville (25-4) had won 14 straight and was making its first state playoff appearance since 2008, a year after winning the Class 2 championship.
"We just had to keep our cool, focus on the game," said junior Autumn Dodd who scored a game-high 20 points.
"Coach Hale was motivating us, telling us we needed to play with grit so that's what we did."
Neelyville took a 37-31 lead into the fourth quarter and was still up six when J'Kayla Fowler hit a hook shot in the paint off an inbound pass with 5:26 left. The Eagles got a free throw as Rhegan Tutor picked up her fourth foul and nearly got a steal at midcourt. Dodd, however, was able to track down the loose ball, dribble through traffic and score.
Lexi Liau's fourth foul gave Hartville two more free throws, but Fowler came down with an offensive rebound and found Liau in the corner for a 3-pointer and a 46-36 lead with 4:40 to play.
Tori Harlow's 3-pointer put the Tigers up 13 midway in the fourth.
"I think we just pulled together more and we didn't let them control us," said junior Jentri Worley who capped the 15-5 run with a three-point play with 2:16 to go.
Worley sank all seven of her foul shots in the fourth and finished with 14 points and six rebounds. Fowler added 13 points and led with eight rebounds while Liau chipped in eight points.
The Tigers overcame a 20-turnover night by forcing 19 and leading to 20 points. They also scored 13 second-chance points finishing with a plus-8 rebounding advantage.
Neelyville struggled to find the bottom of the net early, shooting 9 for 25 from the field (36 percent) in the first half, while the Eagles drew a pair of charges.
Dodd and Fowler each picked up their second foul on a charge call midway through the first half while Fowler and Mackenzie Hobbs each had three fouls in the second quarter.
"We got in foul trouble real quick," Hale said. "We didn't adjust to what they were calling. They were calling it tight. Our bench came in and gave us some momentum a little bit."
Neelyville's reserves scored 10 points.
"Our bench is great," Worley said. "Our bench is so deep, people don't think our bench is deep but it really is and our bench has been playing really good since the district tournament."
The Tigers ended the first quarter with a 12-2 swing starting Dodd's tying 3-pointer off a pass from Hobbs. Worley later sank a 3 while Dodd knocked down another in the final minute before Fowler's putback at the buzzer put Neelyville up 16-9.
Hobbs scored off a pass from Worley for a nine-point lead to start the second quarter but Fowler joined Dodd on the bench with two fouls.
"It wasn't tough at all because I trust my team and we're always there," Dodd said of watching the second quarter. "If one person is struggling we have each others back."
The Eagles slowly chipped away with a 7-2 run over the next three minutes. Hartville finally caught up with 1:55 left in the half when Skylar Divine sank a 3-pointer off a pass from junior guard Sadie Chisum. Hobbs picked up her third foul trying to get an offensive rebound, sending Grace Still to the line where the senior's foul shot put the Eagles up 23-22.
Tutor knocked both ends of a one-and-one with 18.1 seconds left to give Neelyville a 24-23 halftime lead.
Chisum, Hartville's leading scorer at 17.1 points per game, had a point and didn't have a field goal in the first half. The 5-foot-2 junior finished with 11 points and six assists.
"She was driving to the middle so we had to stop that," Dodd said. "Everything flows (through her)."
The Tigers clogged up the middle with a zone defense and limited Hartville to three field goals and eight total points in the third quarter.
Neelyville opened the second half with seven straight points to take a 31-23 lead but Chisum answered, ending Hartville's drought at the 5:22 mark. The Eagles got within four but missed chances to get closer.
Fowler went coast-to-coast after pulling down a defensive rebound then got a steal and scored again for a 37-29 lead with two minutes left in the third.
Worley appeared to give the Tigers a double-digit lead but her basket was waved off when Katie Still drew her third charge. Chisum sank two foul shots but the Eagles missed a chance to cut into Neelyville's 37-31 lead to start the fourth and never got closer.
"I think our defense started working for us," Hale said of the late surge. "They started missing some shots, we got to blocking out and rebounding. A couple of times we were the only ones down there rebounding. That helped us out.
"It's just a matter of grit and we've got to have it."