Blistering second half

LENOX – Down 26-16 at the half didn’t dissuade the Lenox girls basketball team Thursday as they mounted a momentous rally in the second half to take their meeting with Murray, 54-42.

The third quarter quickly got started in favor of the Tigers as Morgan Parrish drained a 3-pointer from the wing. On the ensuing Lenox possession, TJ Stoaks sank a triple off an assist from McKinna Hogan to cut the Lady Mustangs’ lead to just six.

After a Murray timeout, the Tiger comeback continued thanks to a Lauren Christensen bucket from beyond the arc.

Jynessa Cox then got in on the party from downtown as she swished home a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to make it a one-point game.

Lenox ended the quarter down one after another Parrish triple.

Stoaks got the fourth quarter going with seven consecutive points, rallying the Tigers from a deficit to a six-point lead in a little over two minutes.

As the fourth quarter progressed so did Lenox’s lead as the Tigers’ man-to-man full court press started to cause Murray turnovers.

Stoaks found Brooke Miller inside for a bucket and then after a long, taxing possession on the Mustangs’ defense Cassidy Nelson sank a floater through the lane and got fouled.

Miller followed that with a corner triple to push the Tiger lead to 11 and Lenox held out the rest of the way. Miller finished with 11 after not scoring in the opening half.

Stoaks went on to finish with 18 points.

“It was the defense that started us, ... that got us some transition buckets,” said Lenox head coach Jesse Cox. “I think we were ready to shoot in rhythm. ... Once that full court man got us going we were catching, shooting and ready to score.”

Murray’s Bre Klein kept the Mustangs around in the second half with 10 of her 22 total points, but the Lady Mustangs couldn’t find answers from the outside when they needed them in the second half.

Kendra Boles added eight points for Murray, but no other Lady Mustang player had more than four.

“We just fell apart defensively,” said Murray head coach Jerry Shields. “... They came out and hit two or three three’s then hit three or four in a row and it was over there.”

First half

The first 16 minutes of the game was a product of Murray’s full court press being effective and Lenox struggling to get shots to fall.

Murray held Lenox to just five points in the opening quarter with stingy defense, not allowing the first Tiger basket until over three minutes of play had passed.

The Lady Mustangs’ lead blossomed to as much as 11 in the second quarter after a Klein steal turned into a mid-range jumper.

When Lenox answered with a bucket, Rylee Newton deposited another mid-range look to push the score to 22-11 toward the end of the half.

“We have to be able to score from the outside,” said Shields. “(Waske) needs to be able to average about 10 points a game for us to be successful and we have to stick some shots in from the outside.”

But the Tiger offense found their groove in the second half scoring 38 points in the last two quarters.

“It (the motion offense) was a little stagnant in the first half, but like I said we just put it in last week. We started setting better screens and working on the fundamentals of the motion and that helped out,” said Cox.

UP NEXT – Lenox (2-5) heads to East Union tonight (Friday), hoping back into Pride of Iowa Conference play. Murray (3-4) will host Moulton-Udell in a Bluegrass Conference contest.

Lenox 54,

Murray 42

Murr (42) — 9 17 8 8

Len (54) — 5 11 17 21

MURRAY (FG FT PTS) — Totals — 21 16-22 63. Bre Klein 8 6-7 22, Kendra Boles 4 0-1 8, Hailey Chew 1 1-4 4, Rylee Newton 1 1-2 3, Ally Waske 1 1-2 3, Britta Callstrom 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals — 1 (Chew 1). Team fouls — 17. Fouled out — None.

LENOX (FG FT PTS) — Totals — 20 7-16 54. TJ Stoaks 8 0-4 18, Brooke Miller 5 0-1 11, Morgan Parrish 2 0-0 6, Cassidy Nelson 1 3-5 5, Jynessa Cox 1 1-2 4, Jordan England 1 2-2 4, Lauren Christensen 1 0-0 3, Camryn Douglas 1 0-0 2, McKinna Hogan 0 1-2 1. 3-point goals — 7 (Stoaks 2, Parrish 2, Miller 1, Cox 1, Christensen 1). Team fouls — 16. Fouled out — none.