Willard sweeps openers; girls fall in 2 OT

WILLARD, Mo. -- The two schools that have played in each of the 25 editions of the Willard Classic faced off Thursday night in the opening round of the annual round-robin tournament. This time, host Willard took a sweep of Fort Scott in the annual battle of the Tigers.

Fort Scott's girls fell in double overtime, 62-58, after holding a 10-point halftime lead. Once Willard's boys pushed its lead into double digits in the third quarter, they were content to work the clock and went on to a 44-31 victory.

Both Fort Scott teams face Broken Arrow, Okla., in afternoon games today. The girls play at 4 p.m. with the boys to follow at about 5:30.

Willard girls 62, Fort Scott 58, 2 OT.

The Tigers led 27-17 at the half. But fouls and turnovers gave Willard scoring opportunities in the second half that they didn't pass up, taking a 39-38 lead going into the fourth quarter on a 3-point play by Mallory Kurtz.

Willard made 10 of 11 free throws in the third period and forced eight Fort Scott turnovers. But the visitors scored 6 straight points to open the fourth with Katren Rienbolt's stickback of a teammate's miss making it 44-39 with 5:24 to go.

Willard scored 8 of 10 late in the game to go up 52-50. But Fort Scott was able to force overtime when Lawrence scored a layup with 18 seconds left.

Each team scored only twice in the first OT. Mariah Stewart scored for Willard with 1:05 left. Lawrence put in another layup with 26 seconds to go.

Sidney Maycumber drew a charging foul on Willard's Amber Percival with 4.7 seconds left, which led to the second overtime.

Maycumber tied the score one last time, 58-58, in the second extra session. But Ali Perry's stickback gave Willard the lead for good with 45 second left.

Maycumber led Fort Scott with 16 points. Lawrence and freshman Ashley Cook each scored 12 for the Tigers and Rienbolt finished with 11. Perry led Willard with 22 points while Stewart added 12 and Percival and Kurtz each chipped in with 11.

Willard boys 44, Fort Scott 31.

Fort Scott scored the first 5 points of the second quarter with freshman Kaleb DeLaTorre putting the Tigers ahead with a 3-point shot.

Fort Scott led 16-15 with just under three minutes left in the half on a Garin Sinn basket. Zachary Barr gave Willard the lead for good with a basket with 2:25 left and Chris Kendricks added two free throws with six seconds to go.

Willard outscored Fort Scott 13-5 in the third, holding the visitors to one field goal in the period. Willard led 32-21 going into the fourth.

The Tigers got within 32-24 with about 6 1/2 minutes left in the game but couldn't get closer.

Kendricks led all scorers with 16 points. Jash Pytlowany led Fort Scott with 10.

GIRLS

FORT SCOTT: Tourtillott 0 0-0 0, Shoemaker 0 0-0 0, Allen 0 0-0 0, Rinbolt 4 2-2 11, Cook 5 0-0 12, Si.Maycumber 8 0-0 16, Lawrence 4 4-4 12, Lattimer 3 1-4 7. TOTALS: 24-60 7-10 58.

WILLARD: Barrett 0 2-4 2, Percival 2 7-9 11, Kurtz 1 9-11 11, Perry 7 7-9 22, Stewart 6 0-0 12, yates 0 0-0 0, Williamson 0 2-2 2, Parker 0 0-0 0, Carpenter 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 17-54 27-35 62.

Willard............ 8 9 22 13 2 8 -- 62

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 3-13 (Cook 2, Rienbolt), Willard 1-8 (Perry).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 24, Willard 16. Fouled out: Lawrence, Kurtz.

BOYS

FORT SCOTT: DeLaTorre 1 0-0 3, Woodring 0 0-0 0, Sather 0 0-0 0, Pytlowany 4 0-0 10, Stark 0 3-4 3, Davenport 0 2-4 2, Olin 1 0-0 2, Sinn 2 3-5 7, Knopp 1 2-3 4. TOTALS: 9-30 10-16 31.

WILLARD: Kendricks 6 4-5 16, Barr 1 0-0 2, Wester 6 0-0 13, Baker 0 0-0 0, Kinghorn 5 0-4 10, McGuinness 0 0-0 0, Hrebeck 0 0-0 0, Anderson 1 0-0 3, Holloon 0 0-0 0, Craig 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19-39 4-9 44.

Willard............... 13 6 13 12 -- 44

Three-point field goals:Fort Scott 3-9 (Pytowany 2, DeLaTorre), Willard 2-11 (Wester, Anderson).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 10, Willard 13. Fouled out: None.