Pirates, Lady Pirates fall on Senior Night to visiting Walnut Grove squads

It wasn’t a good week for the Ash Grove High School basketball teams as they both went 0-2 to end the regular season last week.

          Girls
The Lady Pirates hosted Walnut Grove on Senior Night, Thursday, Feb. 20, but fell to the Lady Tigers, 59-52. Prior to the game, Ash Grove seniors Taylor Spickard, Makenna Johnson, Kennedi Climer and Riley Hammons were honored.
It was hard fought first half as the two teams ended the first quarter tied at 11-11 and went into the half tied at 25-25. The Lady Pirates led 39-34 at the end of the third quarter but the Lady Tigers outscored Ash Grove 25-13 to win the game, by seven points.
Khloe Moad and Brittany Gilliland both led Ash Grove with 13 points apiece, while Kennedi Climer added 11 points in the loss.
The Lady Pirates traveled to Clever on Tuesday, Feb. 18 and came home with a 62-53 loss.
Ash Grove led 21-18 after the first quarter but went into the half tied at 31-31. Clever outscored Ash Grove 16-11 in the third quarter to take a 47-42 lead. In the fourth quarter, the Lady Pirates scored another 11 points but Clever added 15 points to win the game by nine points.
Emma Eagleburger led Ash Grove with 18 points; Moad added 14 points and Climer ended the game with 11 points.
Ash Grove is now 18-7 on the season and were scheduled to open up Class 2, District 13 play this week at Weaubleau.
Miller is the top seed; followed by Skyline, Ash Grove, Weaubleau, Greenfield, Osceola, Lakeland and Marion C. Early. The Lady Pirates were scheduled to play Osceola on Monday night. The semifinals will be played tonight with the championship game to be played on Saturday.

          Boys
On the boys side of things, the Pirates hosted but lost to Walnut Grove 62-50 on Thursday, Feb. 20. The evening was also Senior Night where Ash Grove seniors Cody Raney, Robin Vert and Jonas Adams were recognized prior to their last home contest.
Ash Grove trailed 19-18 after the first quarter and went into the half trailing, 34-28. The Tigers outscored Ash Grove 17-16 in the third quarter and 11-6 in the fourth quarter to win the game by 12 points.
“I was proud of how we competed,” said head coach Grant Williamson. “It was great to get to recognize our three seniors in the final game of the regular  season.”
Codey Raney led Ash Grove with 23 points and Sam Moreland ended the game with nine points.
The Pirates opened the week by traveling to Lockwood on Tuesday, Feb. 18 but came home with a 75-51 loss.
Lockwood led Ash Grove 17-13 after the first quarter and 35-27 at the half. Lockwood added another 19 points in the third quarter, while the Pirates put up 13 points. Lockwood put the game away in the fourth quarter, outscoring Ash Grove 21-11.
“I thought we played them very competitive,” said Williamson. “We hung with them for quite a while. I was proud of the way our guys executed the game plan which allowed us opportunities to be in it. When you are hyper-focused as a team to eliminate certain options for an opponent you always leave something open and credit to Lockwood for having some players step up and take advantage of that. I don’t feel like the score accurately reflects how competitively we played, but sometimes that’s just how it goes.”
Raney led Ash Grove with 22 points; Moreland added 13 points and Brock Mooneyham ended the game with 12 points.
Ash Grove ends the regular season with a 1-22 record and will enter this week’s Class 2, District 13 tournament in Weaubleau as the eighth seed.
Skyline is the top seed; followed by Weaubleau, Lakeland, Miller, Greenfield, Marion C. Early, Osceola and Ash Grove. The Pirates were scheduled to play top seed Skyline on Tuesday night. The semifinals will be played tomorrow night with the championship game being played on Saturday night.