The season’s first home game didn’t go as hoped for the Houston High School girls basketball team, as the Lady Tigers fell to county rival Licking, 51-21, Monday in Tiger Fieldhouse.
The host Lady Tigers were outscored 15-6 in the first quarter and trailed 26-14 at halftime. Licking then shut out Houston in the third quarter, 7-0, and put up another 18 points in the final period.
The visiting Lady Wildcats set up in a full court press at the outset of the contest and kept the pressure on most of the way. The Lady Tigers had trouble maintaining control of the ball throughout the game and finished with 33 turnovers.
Licking’s margin of victory might have been larger, but the Lady Wildcats were cold from long range through most of the contest. Meanwhile, Houston went 0-6 at the free throw line while Licking went 8-for-20 from the stripe.
Junior center Sophia Crites led Houston in scoring with 8 points, while sophomore forward Gracyn McNiell had 5 and junior forward Makinley Aaron added 2.
Licking senior Hannah Medlock led all scorers in the contest with 22 points, while junior Allie Hock had 8 (all in the second half) and 6-foot freshman center Morgan Stone added 7.
ONE UP, TWO DOWN AT FORDLAND TOURNEY
At last week’s 10th annual Fordland Invitational tournament, Houston lost twice and won once. In their season-opening contest on Monday, the third-seeded Lady Tigers were defeated by No. 6 Dora, 58-53, in overtime.
Houston led 17-10 at the end of the first quarter, but the sixth-seeded Lady Falcons chipped away and the score was 51-all at the end of regulation time.
Cavaness led Houston in scoring in the contest with a career-high 20 points, while McNiell had a career-high 11. Aaron had a nice all-round performance in her first game with the Lady Tigers, scoring 10 points, pulling down a game-high 9 rebounds and snatching 5 steals.
Dora was led in scoring by freshman guard Kinley Luna, who went 10-for-10 at the foul line and finished with a game-high 25 points.
The Lady Tigers went 8-for-11 from the free throw line in the game, but sank only 1-of-11 attempts from 3-point territory.
In a topsy-turvy consolation bracket game against No. 7 Conway on Thursday, Houston fell 38-30.
In large part thanks to numerous turnovers, the Lady Tigers were shut out in the first quarter and trailed 12-0 going into the second period. Houston then scored 13 unanswered points and led 13-12 after Cavaness sank a long 2-point shot with 1:10 to play in the first half.
But the Lady Bears avoided being blanked in the quarter when freshman center Madison Thompson made a short shot with 25 seconds left, and Conway went into the break on top 14-13.
The Lady Bears increased the margin to 26-21 at the end of the third quarter, but the Lady Tigers rallied in the fourth period and went ahead 28-27 when freshman guard Summer Seago knocked down a 6-foot shot from the edge of the key with 5:30 remaining in the contest.
But the Lady Bears regained the lead moments later on a 3-pointer by junior Katen Wilson and allowed Houston to score only one more bucket on the way to the victory.
Seago led Houston in scoring with 8 points, while Crites had 7 and Aaron added 5.
The Lady Tigers committed 25 turnovers and struggled to make shots in the contest, going 14-56 from the field (25%) and 2-for-5 from the foul line.
On Friday, Houston picked up a 49-19 win over eighth-seeded Bradleyville.
The Lady Tigers led 4-0 at the end of the first quarter and then outscored the Lady Eagles 17-9 in the second period and 28-10 in the second half.
Crites led Houston in scoring with 16 points, while McNiell had 10, Seago had 6 and Aaron, Cavaness and Weaver added 5 apiece. The Lady Tigers made just 2-of-16 free throws in the game and committed 21 turnovers.
Second-seeded Mountain Grove topped No. 1 Fordland 55-50 in last Friday’s tournament championship game.
“I think we still have a lot of work to do,” said HHS head coach Micah Lee. “Defensively, we’re figuring out where we need to be, but multiple, multiple turnovers – it’s dictating the game. If we can start controlling the ball, we can stop allowing more opportunities for our opponents to score. Right now, that is what is costing us games.
“We’re slowly chipping away at ending bad habits, having discipline on the court, and having the confidence on the offensive side to make things happen. I feel that we have a lot of talent and potential, we just have to hone in on correcting our mistakes and take care of the ball.”
Houston (1-3) is idle until a road game Dec. 15 at Norwood.
