By Levi Payton
sports@joplinglobe.com
The words of advice McAuley Catholic coach Chelsea Holmes gave her team during a timeout in the third quarter seemed to be the spark that helped the Warriors knock off the Southwest Trojans 57-52 to win the A.G. Edwards Lady Cavalier Basketball Classic on Saturday night at Thomas Jefferson.
During a timeout with the Warriors leading by three, 41-38, at the 4:02 mark of the third, Holmes challenged her group to spend the rest of the game outrebounding the taller Trojans.
After that, Southwest struggled to pull in rebounds and the Warriors took advantage.
“We didn’t rebound well, at all,” Trojans coach Kenny Ferguson said. “Give all the credit to McAuley. They outplayed us tonight.”
The Warriors rattled in eight 3-pointers in the game — five of them in the first period. Sonya Kilongkilong led the charge with four, Kristin Wilmes hit three and Arielle Santillan added another. The Warriors had a 25-19 lead at the end of the first period.
“On some nights we can shoot (the 3-pointer), and on other nights we can’t,” Holmes said. “The girls came out and played well tonight. They were ready to go.”
Southwest tied the game at 27 with 5:18 left in the second, but the Warriors closed out the half on a 10-2 run to take a 37-29 lead into the break.
The Trojans grabbed their only lead of the game when Jessica Mitchell led off the fourth quarter with a jumper to make it 44-43. Less than two minutes later the Warriors regained the lead on a Brielle Lakey jumper with 5:53 left to spark a 13-2 run that put the game away.
“Our main objective was to block them out (on defense) as best as we could,” said Wilmes, a 5-foot-7 senior.
Wilmes led the Warrior offense with 15 points. Kilongkilong finished with 14.
The Trojans were led by Mitchell’s game-high 19 and Brittany Clifton’s 17.
The win keeps McAuley unbeaten at 4-0 heading into Monday’s 6 p.m. home bout with Purdy. Southwest, which falls to 3-1, travels to Sarcoxie at 6 p.m. Monday.
In earlier action College Heights defeated Sarcoxie 54-40 to claim seventh place in the tournament.
Rachel Brehm knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and had 15 points to lead the Cougars. Teammate Kristin Haddad finished with 12.
Tasha Raymond scored a game-high 23 to lead the Bears.
Lockwood dropped Thomas Jefferson 40-30 in the consolation game.
The Tigers jumped out to a 28-14 lead at the half and managed to hold on thanks to Angel Obert’s 14-point performance. Rochelle Wallen added 10 for the Tigers.
Allison Fraum was the only player in double figures for the Cavaliers with 12 points.
A 22-point fourth quarter helped the Diamond Wildcats edge the Jasper Eagles 44-36 for third-place honors.
Jasper led 16-12 at the half but couldn’t find an answer for the Wildcats in the second half as Lindsay Gilbert poured in 14 points to lead Diamond.
Lacey Hartman had 11 points to lead the Eagles while teammate Candice Talbot chipped in 10.
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