Willard girls dominate third period on way to win over Fort Scott

WILLARD, Mo. -- Willard's 21-3 third-quarter run delivered a blow to Fort Scott High's girls on the second night of the Willard Tri-State Classic here Friday night as the tourney hosts went on to a 62-34 victory.

Willard (3-0) led 21-12 at the half after outscoring Fort Scott 9-5 in the second. Then they scored the first 8 points of the quarter. Katren Rienbolt's 3-point goal finally got the Tigers on the board in the half but Willard went on to score 13 more points without an interruption. and increase its lead to 42-15

Fort Scott continued to play hard despite the margin and scored the last 5 points of the third and the first 4 of the fourth.

Willard led 8-2 early on and 12-5 before Maddi Allen beat the buzzer to bring the Tigers within five. Rienbolt scored the first basket of the second period to cut the deficit to 3 points. Willard scored 9 of the next 11 and never let Fort Scott get within 9 points the rest of the way.

Sidney Maycumber finished with a varsity-best 11 points for Fort Scott while Rienbolt added 12. Megan Bugg led Willard with 13 points while Brittany Scott added 11 and Brooke Duncan chipped in with 12.

Willard shot 55 percent from the floor, making 22 of 40 field-goal attempts and also converted 17 of 20 free throws. Fort Scott was held to 31-percent field-goal shooting on 13 of 42.

Willard can clinch the tournament title this afternoon if it defeats Arkansas Baptist. Fort Scott will look for its first victory of the season and hopefully a third-place finish in the round-robin tournament against Har-Ber of Springdale, Ark., this afternoon at 1 p.m.

FORT SCOTT: Tourtillott 0 0-0 0, Allen 2 1-3 5, Rienbolt 4 1-4 10, Shelton 2 1-3 5, Sd.Maycumber 4 3-6 11, Karleskint 0 0-0 0, Lawrence 1 0-0 2, Gray 0 1-2 1. TOTALS: 13-42 7-18 34.

WILLARD: Duncan 4 2-2 10, Percival 2 4-4 8, Bugg 5 2-2 13, Steckler 2 2-2 6, Kurtz 2 0-0 4, Scott 4 3-3 11, Barrett 2 1-2 5, Stewart 0 1-2 1, Jewell 0 0-1 0, Shelengowski 1 2-2 4, Miller 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22-40 17-20 62.

Willard..... 12 9 21 20 -- 62

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 1-5 (Rienbolt), Willard 1-7 (Bugg).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 19, Willard 23. Fouled out: Lawrence, Percival. Technical fouls: none.

Rebounds: Fort Scott 25, Willard 32. Turnovers: Fort Scott 32, Willard 26.