SUNRISE CHRISTIAN GIRLS 53, CARTHAGE 38

CARTHAGE, Mo. — Sunrise Christian captured fifth place by beating the hosts at the Lady Tigers Invitational on Saturday inside the Carthage High School gymnasium. 

A close first half ended with Sunrise Christian up 22-19.

Leading 35-27 at the end of the third period, Sunrise Christian outscored Carthage 18-11 in the fourth quarter to seal the win. 

Junior guard Lauren Choate scored a game-high 25 points and made four 3-pointers to lead Carthage. Choate was named to the all-tournament team.

Junior forward Lexa Youngblood added seven points and classmate Maggie Boyd scored six for the Tigers (1-2).

Sandra Hracka scored 17 points to lead Sunrise Christian, while Marija Sikic added 16.

In the tourney's championship game, El Dorado Springs beat Rolla 48-42 and Bentonville defeated Fort Smith Southside 57-50 for third place. 

Carthage will be among the teams competing at next week's Joplin Lady Eagle Classic. Carthage meets Blue Valley North at 6:30 on Thursday in an opening-round contest.

CARTHAGE GIRLS 55, OLATHE EAST 47

CARTHAGE, Mo. — Carthage earned a consolation win over Olathe East on Friday and will play for fifth place on Saturday to wrap up its play as the host of the Lady Tigers Invitational.

The Tigers (1-1) jumped out to a 15-8 lead after the first period before the Hawks rallied in the second period to hold a 22-21 advantage by the intermission. 

Carthage went to work from the free-throw line in the second half to regain control. The Tigers sank 8-of-10 shots from the charity stripe in the third quarter—building a five-point lead, 36-31, by the end of the third quarter. The Tigers continued to have success from the foul line in the fourth quarter, knocking down 9-of-10 shots to help stave off the Hawks.

"It was great to see our team firing on all cylinders tonight," Carthage coach Scott Moore said. "We still aren't hitting as many 3s as I'd like, but I was proud of our girls for attacking the paint and getting buckets inside the second half. We shot really well from the free-throw line, which helped us keep our lead late in the game."

Lauren Choate finished the game with a team-high 16 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, to lead all scorers, while Maggie Boyd finished right behind with 15, nine of which came from the stripe. Lexa Youngblood also finished in double-figure scoring with 13 points with five makes from the free-throw line. Jaidyn Brunnert sank two 3-pointers on the way to eight points.

"We had great, balanced scoring tonight too which makes us hard to guard," Moore said. "We had three players in double figures and one player with eight. If we can get that production on a nightly basis, we will be a fun team to watch and a hard team to defend."

Carthage takes on Sunrise Christian in the fifth-place game at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.

CARTHAGE, Mo. — Webb City and Carthage had their chances late, but both ultimately fell short against squads from Arkansas in their respective opening-round games of the 2023 Lady Tigers Invitational on Thursday night inside the CHS Gymnasium.

Webb City suffered a 55-47 setback to Bentonville, while tourney host Carthage fell 41-33 to Fort Smith Southside.

SOUTHSIDE 41, CARTHAGE 33

The host Tigers had their chances late, as they only trailed by six with four minutes to play.

Simply put, Carthage was unable to rally late in the game. 

"Southside was playing its third or fourth game, so they've got the first game jitters out of the way, and they've got their roles defined a little bit more," Carthage coach Scott Moore said. "For us, we know we have some things to fix. We'll play again tomorrow, and hopefully, we'll get past the first game issues we saw tonight." 

For the first time in five years, Carthage took the court with a new floor general, as four-year starting point guard Kianna Yates graduated last May.

With that, the Tigers have returning players in new and expanded roles this season. 

"The returners we have are being asked to do more because of graduation," Moore said. "Maggie's got to get used to being the full-time varsity point guard. She's doing well and she's going to get even better. Lauren is being asked to score more than she has in the past. She'll do that. Lexa is being asked to score more this year. That adds up to everybody shifting roles. This was our first game, so all of that is still being ironed out."

Carthage trailed 13-9 at the end of the first quarter.

The Tigers tied the game at 15-all on junior guard Maggie Boyd's 3-pointer, but the hosts were down one at the break, 17-16.

Boyd's second trey of the third period trimmed Southside's lead to three, as the hosts trailed 25-22.

But the Mavericks concluded the third quarter on a 5-1 run for a 30-23 lead.

Southside extended its lead to nine early in the fourth quarter, but the Tigers kept coming.

Junior Jaidyn Brunnert scored in the lane, the visitors responded on the other before CHS junior classmate Ashlyn Brust knocked down a 3-pointer, trimming her team's deficit to six.

The Mavericks reeled off five straight points to push their lead to 11 and the Tigers had a couple of empty possessions that sealed their fate.

Moore noted there were plenty of positives for his squad.

"Our girls played really hard," Moore said. "There's no question about that. Sometimes we need to play a little smarter. And we're a much-better shooting team than we saw tonight. A lot of shots just didn't fall. There's not going to be many games where Lauren Choate doesn't hit a 3. Again, it was our first live speed action of the season. We'll get better." 

Brust scored 11 points to lead the Tigers, while classmate Boyd added 10 points and hit three 3-pointers.

Junior guard Lauren Choate scored seven points, while fellow juniors Brunnert and Lexa Youngblood contributed four and one point, respectively.

Six-foot senior post player Sophia Neihouse scored a game-high 18 points for the Mavericks.

Carthage will meet Olathe East at 5:30 on Friday in the consolation semifinals. 
-From SoMo Sports Online Reports