Lady Pirates fall to Hollister in overtime; take fourth at Walnut Grove

The Ash Grove girls basketball team took on Hollister in the third place game of the Walnut Grove Holiday Classic on Monday, Dec. 30 in Walnut Grove but fell in overtime 62-61, to finish fourth in the tournament.
The Lady Pirates jumped out to a 20-12 first quarter lead but Hollister played great defense in the second quarter and held Ash Grove to just four points, while cutting the Lady Pirates lead to 24-20 at the half.
Ash Grove was able to shoot well in the third quarter, putting up 15 points,
while holding Hollister to eight points, increasing their lead to 39-28, heading into the fourth quarter of play. In the fourth quarter, Hollister, scored 19 points, while the Lady Pirates managed just eight points, to tie the game at 47-47 and force overtime.
Both teams shot the ball well in the overtime period, but Hollister put up 15 points, while Ash Grove scored 14 points to lose by one.
“It was a tough game,” said head coach Bryan Dean. “Our team should learn a lot in a game like this. There were a lot of situations within the game that can’t
be simulated in practice. My hope is this game made us better even though we lost.”
Kennedi Climer led Ash Grove with 19 points; Emma Eagleburger added 15 points and 10 rebounds, Khloe Moad had 12 points and Riley Hammons ended the game with nine points.
With the loss, Ash Grove falls to 6-4 on the season and were scheduled to play at Stockton on Monday and will host Billings tomorrow. The boys basketball team was scheduled to play at Billings on Tuesday and at Marion C. Early on Friday.