Longhorns lock down late for Courtwarming win
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
South Nodaway junior guard Mallory McConkey led the Longhorns to a 55-36 win against DeKalb on Friday night, scoring a game-high 23 points.
DeKalb refused to go away on South Nodaway’s Courtwarming night in Barnard, but the Longhorns evaded the Tigers’ best efforts for a home victory on Friday.
A strong second half and 23 points from junior guard Mallory McConkey guided South Nodaway to its victory, 55-36, though DeKalb never allowed it to be easy — at least until the final few minutes. To finally put things out of reach, the Longhorns held the Tigers to just two points in the final 4:26 of the fourth quarter.
“They are a very athletic team. Their man-to-man defense, we hadn’t seen anything like the way they play it this year,” Longhorns head coach Aaron Murphy said. “We hadn’t seen any team that plays it as hard and physical and in-your-face as they do. … We had a little adjustment period and the girls were able to come back.”
DeKalb got the upper hand early, scoring eight of the game’s first nine points to capture a lead out of the gate.
South Nodaway struggled to finish inside early on, an issue it solved later in the frame. The Longhorns first field goal of the game came at the 3:47 mark on an and-one from Mallory McConkey, though she missed the free throw.
An 8-2 run in favor of South Nodaway to finish out the first period gave it a 13-12 lead at the end of one.
“We want to start with energy,” Murphy said. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean the ball is going in. You could play high energy defensively, and then you just have an off shooting night. We had to weather a little bad shooting storm there, but we were able to get back into it.”
The second quarter was played almost equally close, with South Nodaway maintaining its lead and pushing it to 23-18 at its largest margin.
But DeKalb, while it had difficulty knocking down perimeter shots, sliced its way into the lane often to keep the Longhorns’ lead to 25-22 at halftime.
“We knew they were athletic,” Murphy said. “We felt zone was going to be a good thing for us eventually, but we just wanted to put that in our back pocked and use it if necessary.”
Following several lead changes at the beginning of the third quarter, South Nodaway started doing its best to pull away.
A 10-2 Longhorns burst extended their advantage to 38-32 late in the frame, eventually parlaying it into a 38-33 lead heading to the final quarter of action.
South Nodaway turned it on down the stretch, as DeKalb didn’t score for a four-minute, 15-second stretch of action, allowing the Longhorns to run away with the final score. DeKalb finally broke the scoreless streak with 11 seconds to go on a layup from freshman Kirstian Goddard.
Sophomore forward Alex Buckles helped the Longhorns lock down defensively, bringing impactful minutes off the bench to help stymie the Tigers’ offensive opportunities.
“Alex coming through like that, especially in the second half, getting stick-backs and offensive boards and points at the foul line,” Murphy said. “She’s definitely a bright spot that we have. We’re fortunate that she’s a sophomore and there’s going to be a lot of growth for her.”
Junior guard Meaghan McConkey added 10 points to her sister’s 23, and junior Mallory Dittemore scored 11 points to lead DeKalb.
South Nodaway (15-5) will take on Mound City at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9 at home.
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Junior Sydney Harlan gets inside for South Nodaway on Friday night, a 55-36 win for South Nodaway on Courtwarming night against DeKalb in Barnard.
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Longhorns sophomore forward Alex Buckles provided a spark in the second half for South Nodaway, helping her team to defeat DeKalb on Friday night, 55-36.
