It set up to be the perfect ending: The ball landed in Amber Honig’s hands with a short shot to win the game on senior night.
Only this ending was a sour one for Honig and the Houston Lady Tigers’ three other seniors.
Honig’s short jumper in the late bounced off the rim and missed as Laquey escaped with a 37-36 victory Monday night inside Hiett Gymnasium.
It wasn’t the victorious send-off seniors Danielle Pounds, Shelbi Moore, Jessica Herndon and Honig had hoped for.
“Our four seniors really wanted to get a quality win in their last game on this court, and it just didn’t happen for us,” Houston coach Brent Kell said.
It may have been the last home game, but it wasn’t the final contest in the seniors’ career. The Lady Tigers open district play at 3:30 p.m. Saturday when they face Willow Springs at Cabool High School.
The fifth-seeded Lady Bears defeated No. 4 Houston 51-41 last Thursday.
“If they play like (the Laquey game) in district play, we can advance,” Kell said. “We can play with anybody in our district.”
A pair of juniors led the Lady Tigers in scoring against Laquey. Center Erica Keeney scored 10 of her team-high 14 points in the first half and Tory Burgess hit three 3-pointers en route to 11 points.
Houston trailed by one in the final moments as Laquey inbounded the ball. The pass was deflected and bounced off a Laquey player’s foot with 5.4 seconds left.
Senior Danielle Pounds took the inbounds pass, dribbled along the baseline and hit Honig in the middle of the lane. Honig released a short shot with about two seconds left, and it bounced out.
Kell praised Pounds for making a play to set up the potential game-winner. Houston was out of timeouts.
“We did a good job of getting a shot off. It just didn’t go,” Kell said. “I felt bad for Amber, and she felt bad about missing that shot. That would have made her season if she could have made it.”
Keeney scored 10 of the Lady Tigers’ first 16 points as they built an eight-point advantage. The lead was five at the half before Houston managed just four third-quarter points.
The Lady Tigers led 36-33 late but didn’t score again.
On Thursday, Burgess had a team-best 14 points in a 10-point loss to Willow Springs. She was the lone Lady Tiger in double figures.
Willow Springs stretched a four-point lead to double figures in the third quarter by outscoring Houston 15-7.
JUNIOR VARSITY: Kenzie Scheets and Alexa Ichord combined for 30 points to lead the JV Lady Tigers past Laquey 51-47 Monday night in the team’s season finale.
Scheets scored 16 and Ichord had 14.
On Thursday, Ichord scored a season-high 23 points in Houston’s 42-35 victory against Willow Springs. Emily Reese added six.
Box scores
Monday’s game
Laquey 8 9 10 10 — 37
Houston 14 8 4 10 — 36
LAQUEY — Cristoffer 1 1-2 3. Gan 2 0-0 4. Murray 5 2-4 13. Brock 5 7-12 17. Totals 13 10-18 37.
HOUSTON (9-17) — Moore 0 2-4 2. Pounds 2 0-0 5. KKell 1 0-0 2. Burgess 4 0-0 11. Honig 1 0-0 2. Ichord 0 0-2 0. Keeney 7 0-2 14. Totals 15 2-8 36.
3-pointers: Laquey 1 (Murray); Houston 4 (Burgess 3, Pounds).
Saturday’s game
Willow Springs 13 10 15 13 — 51
Houston 11 8 7 15 — 41
WILLOW SPRINGS — Hutsell 0 10-10 10. Mooney 1 0-0 2. Williams 3 6-8 14. Shanks 2 0-2 6. Aldridge 2 0-0 4. Bunch 4 1-2 9. Girdler 3 0-0 6. Totals 15 17-22 51.
HOUSTON (9-16) — Moore 1 2-4 5. Pounds 0 1-4 1. KKell 2 0-0 4. Burgess 4 3-5 12. Honig 1 0-0 2. Adey 1 0-0 3. Herndon 2 1-1 6. HKell 1 0-0 2. Ichord 1 0-0 2. Keeney 2 0-0 4. Totals 15 7-14 41.
3-pointers: Willow Springs 4 (Williams 2, Shanks 2); Houston 4 (Moore, Burgess, Adey, Herndon).
JUNIOR VARSITY
Monday’s game
Laquey 13 2 16 16 — 47
Houston 12 10 10 19 — 51
HOUSTON — Preheim 1 0-0 2. Ichord 7 0-0 14. Reese 2 0-0 4. Scheets 6 4-6 16. Sillyman 2 0-0 4. Herndon 3 3-5 9. Hayes 1 0-0 2. Totals 22 7-11 51.
Saturday’s game
Willow Springs 11 3 13 12 — 35
Houston 8 10 3 21 — 42
HOUSTON — Ichord 9 5-6 23. Reese 2 2-5 6. Scheets 2 1-2 5. Sillyman 1 2-5 4. Herndon 1 2-4 4. Totals 15 12-22 42.