On Saturday Neoga and Altamont met for the rubber match of their season series, this time it was for a regional championship on the line. And it was Neoga coming away with the win 48-32.
The game started out strong for Neoga as junior Sydney Richards scored 8 points in the opening quarter. Neoga jumped out to a 12-6 first quarter lead.
The storyline for Altamont was the scoring of sophomore Grace Nelson. As Nelson scored all of Altamont’s 17 points first half points. Her teammates were getting open shots just not to many shots were falling. Altamont was only 5 for 22 from the field in the opening half. Neoga did have some difficulty handling the basketball due to the Altamont defense. The turnovers allowed Altamont to get back into the game only trailing 20-17 at the half.
Altamont would keep up the defensive pressure coming out of the locker room but sophomore Haylee Campbell took over and continued her great 2nd quarter into the 3rd, scoring 12 in the middle quarters. Neoga would eventually clean up the turnover problems and lead by 9 after three 34-23.
Neoga also did a better job guarding Nelson, only scoring 5 in the second half after that great first half. Senior Trista Moore went 4 for 5 from the line to finish off Altamont and win the regional championship 48-32.
Altamont finishes the season 16-16 but the record was never the worry for Coach Lurkins and the rest of the team. With a team filled with freshman and sophomores it always about learning and getting better every game. And the improvement really showed from game 1 to the end despite the record.
Neoga improves to 25-7 on the season and advance on to the Tuscola Sectional to play the host school Tuscola, who won the Meridian Regional over Central A & M. Game time is set for 7:30 on Tuesday.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||
| Altamont | 6 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 32 |
| Neoga | 12 | 8 | 14 | 14 | 48 |
Altamont Stats
Nelson 22 Peyton Osteen 4 Grunloh 2 Kylie Osteen 2 Klien 2
FG 9/47
3 PT 2/25
FT 11/14
REB 20
TO 16
Neoga Stats
Sydney Richards 14 Campbell 14 Moore 11 Brynn Richards 5 Fearday 4
FG 18/52
3 PT 1/9
FT 9/13
REB 32
TO 16
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