Lady Jays top Ozark (Rebroadcast Available)

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The Lady Jays overcame a 9-point deficit to earn a 59-54 victory over Ozark High School at the 35^th Annual Pink & White Basketball Tournament Friday night at McDonald Arena on the campus of Missouri State University in Springfield.

Marshfield improves to 12-0 on the season, and the defending champion and second seed Lady Jays will play top seed Republic for the tournament title at 3:30 p.m. in McDonald Arena. Ozark, now 9-2 on the season, will play Parkview for third at 2 p.m.

“I was really proud of the way the girls played,” Marshfield coach Gary Murphy said. “You don’t really know what kind of team you have until they face adversity. That was the first time we’ve fallen behind like that this season.”

Ozark jumped out to a 19-14 lead after one period as Bri Anton scored 8 points in the opening stanza for the Lady Tigers. Khyrstyn Brumley hit a pair of second period field goals as Ozark built a 9-point lead.

“Our defensive pressure was good from start to finish,” Murphy said. “We had a chance to take the lead at halftime if we would have made a shot right there.”

Ozark led 30-29 at the half, but Marshfield kept the defensive pressure up, allowing just 3 field goals in the third period, taking a 42-38. The Lady Jays got 3-point shots from Jaysa Hartman, Amanda Gourley and Alley Bruton in the third period, and finished with 9 3-pointers in the game after just 18 tries.

“One thing I really like about this team is that we have a lot of girls who can step up and hit the three,” Murphy said.

Six different Lady Jays hit a long range shot, and Marshfield was just one 3-pointer from tying the tournament record for a single game.

The Lady Jays built a 9-point advantage in the fourth period, but Ozark battled back to within a possession or two in the final minutes.

“We didn’t handle the end game very well,” Murphy said. “I’ll take responsibility for that. We haven’t been in that situation this year (Marshfield has won every previous game by double figures this season), and we haven’t worked on it in practice. We’ll be working on it.”

Marshfield missed 12 free throws in the final period while Ozark made 10-of-13 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Senior post Sara Jane Plemmons led a balanced Lady Jays scoring attack with 13 points, hitting a trey and grabbing 5 rebounds with 2 steals and an assist in the game.

Senior Lacey Boshe finished with 10 points, hitting a trey with 4 rebounds, a steal, an assist and a blocked shot for Marshfield.

Hartman, a senior guard, hit a pair of treys, scoring 9 points in the game for the Jays with 5 assists, 2 steals and 2 rebounds. Hartman picked up a pair of key fourth-period steals to help preserve the win.

Freshman Amanda Gourley also hit a pair of 3-point shots for Marshfield, scoring 9 points with 2 rebounds, a steal and an assist.

Freshman Alley Bruton made a pair of treys in three tries for the Lady Jays, scoring 7 points with 4 steals and a rebound in the game. Bruton picked up consecutive steals in the third period to help Marshfield take the lead.

Junior Morgan Smith finished with 6 points, 4 rebounds, a steal and a pair of blocks in the contest for Marshfield.

Junior Anna Glenn hit a trey for the Lady Jays with a rebound and a blocked shot.

Ashley Boshe hit a pair of free throws in as many tries for Marshfield.

Anton, a 5-10 junior, led Ozark with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a block.

Sophomore Hannah Gomez added 11 points and 6 rebounds, hitting 5-of-6 field goals for the Lady Tigers.

Junior Khyrstyn Brumley finished with 10 points, 3 rebounds and an assist for Ozark.

Senior Courtney Gimlin added 8 points, 4 steals, 4 rebounds and 3 assists to the Tigers attack.

Click on pic’s below to enlarge.