In a topsy-turvy game in which two squads struggled to maintain momentum, the Houston High School girls basketball team fell 38-30 to Conway Thursday night in a consolation bracket game in the 10th annual Fordland Invitational tournament at Fordland.
In large part thanks to numerous turnovers, the third-seeded Lady Tigers were shut out in the first quarter and trailed 12-0 going into the second period. Houston then scored 13 unanswered points and led 13-12 after junior point guard Lacey Cavaness sank a long 2-point shot with 1:10 to play in the first half.
But the No. 7 Lady Bears avoided being blanked in the quarter when freshman center Madison Thompson made a short shot with 25 seconds left, and Conway went into the break on top 14-13.
The Lady Bears increased the margin to 26-21 at the end of the third quarter, but the Lady Tigers rallied in the fourth period and went ahead 28-27 when freshman guard Summer Seago knocked down a 6-foot shot from the edge of the key with 5:30 remaining in the contest.
But the Lady Bears regained the lead moments later on a 3-pointer by junior Katen Wilson and allowed Houston to score only one more bucket on the way to the victory.
Seago led Houston in scoring with 8 points, while junior center Sophie Crites had 7 and junior forward Makinley Aaron added 5.
In a first round game on Monday, the Lady Tigers were defeated by Dora, 58-53, in overtime.
Houston led 17-10 at the end of the first quarter, but the sixth-seeded Lady Falcons chipped away and the score was 51-all at the end of regulation time.
Cavaness led Houston in scoring in the contest with a career-high 20 points, while sophomore forward Gracyn McNiell had a career-high 11. Aaron had a nice all-round performance in her first game with the Lady Tigers, scoring 10 points, pulling down a game-high 9 rebounds and snatching 5 steals.
Dora was led in scoring by freshman guard Kinley Luna, who went 10-for-10 at the foul line and finished with a game-high 25 points.
The Lady Tigers will face No. 8 Bradleyville in the tournament’s 7th-place game today (Friday) at 4 p.m.
Fordland and Mountain Grove will battle for the tournament championship at 8:30 p.m.
Houston will host county rival Licking on Monday.
