BENTONVILLE — Despite a slow start Friday night, Branson, Mo., bounced back to defeat Huntsville 49-33 in the second day of the Crabtree Invitational.
Branson didn’t come out of the gate the way girls basketball coach Kip Bough would have liked, as his Lady Pirates were without a rebound for the first four minutes of the game and committed five fouls in the opening three.
But once Branson (3-0) found its rhythm, Huntsville simply couldn’t find a way to match it offensively.
“After that initial onslaught, we really didn’t foul very much,” Bough said. “For us, that’s a big key because we can’t contest shots at the free-throw line. I thought our defense did a good job.”
Branson senior Michaela Dapprich, who stands 6-foot, earned official player of the game honors thanks to a 22-point performance, but Bough felt the true MVP of the night was senior center Ruby Stevens.
Stevens, who scored seven points, had one job on Friday: To shutdown Huntsville’s Rose Robinson in the post.
“She held her in the first half to two free throws, and had six total points, and one basket wasn’t even on (Stevens),” Bough said. “We told her before the game, ‘If you do your job on Robinson, we have a chance.’”
Huntsville coach Charlie Berry felt his team did a lot of things right, especially defensively, as Branson turned the ball over 20 times. But the one thing the Lady Eagles (0-4) couldn’t do was score.
“We played hard, but when our big girl (Robinson) doesn’t score, and she didn’t, we have a real difficult time,” Berry said. “We’re struggling, but we’re still playing hard and I think that’s important.”
Senior guard Kirbie Cain led Huntsville, which will play Bentonville at 1:30 p.m. today, with nine points. Sophomore Vanessa Burgess added six, thanks to hitting two 3-pointers in the second half.
BRANSON, MO., 49, HUNTSVILLE 33
Huntsville 9 7 4 13 — 33
Branson, Mo. 12 15 11 11 — 49
Huntsville (0-4): Cain 9, Burgess 6, Robinson 6, Dubberly 4, Grigg 4, Striplin 4.
Branson, Mo. (3-0): Mi. Dapprich 22, Mo. Dapprich 14, Stevens 7, Barton 4, Tarkersley 2.
Bentonville 53, Bryant 44
Bentonville was able to hand Bryant its first loss of the season, beating the Lady Hornets 53-44 on the second day of the Crabtree Invitational.
The Lady Tigers held a 28-23 edge at halftime and slowly crept away from Bryant (4-1) in the second half, led by the scoring of sophomore Kindal Coleman, who finished with 15 points. She left the game because of an injury with 2 minutes, 8 seconds remaining.
Bentonville will play Huntsville at 1:30 p.m. today to cap off the round robin.