A disastrous third quarter turned a nearly even halftime score into a double-digit deficit Saturday as the defending champion Higbee girls fell 56-37 to Wellsville-Middletown for the Keytesville Tournament championship.

With just one point separating the two teams after two quarters, Wellsville opened the second half with a bruising 17-0 run over more than four minutes to

Those four minutes marked the difference in an otherwise tight tournament championship. Apart from the third quarter, the two teams battled to within three points over the first, second, and fourth quarters.

The team’s intense pressure was the key to Wellsville’s dominating third-quarter performance. Higbee turned the ball over nearly every trip down the court, resulting in easy layups.

Higbee sophomore Ronnie Welch, who usually is such a sure shooter, struggled to make a basket, even on layups. She finally put her team on the board in the second half with a 3-point shot. The Lady Tigers managed to outscore Wellsville 7-5 in the bottom half of the third quarter. But the damage was far too severe for Higbee to rally back.

“I think it must have just been one of those nights,” Higbee coach Tanner Burton said about Welch’s uncharacteristic performance. “I tell people on a regular basis that the reality is that kid is a gamer. We want her to flourish. I thought they did a nice job taking care of the basketball in the full court, and at times that can hinder her. I got on her pretty hard in the first 30 seconds of the game after she passed up a wide-open 3-pointer. I’ve been on her that she’s got to be a dual threat. Maybe that pushed the wrong buttons, and I got the not-so-good result out of that.”

Welch finished with eight points. Her 5-for-10 free-throw shooting was a symptom of Higbee’s struggles from the line. The Lady Tigers made just 14 of 32 on the night as a team.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been as mad as I was after that game and not necessarily at the kids,” Burton said. “Stuff like free throws. At one point, I checked in the fourth, and we missed 15. And then to get beat over the top after I yelled about it 20 times. To continually get beat over something that we’re talking about, discussing halftime, that’s hard. It’s just one of those games where there’s a lot of frustrations.”

Juniors Alie Mitchell and Isabelle Welch each finished with eight points as well. Freshman Lauren Spilman also suffered from cold shooting. She entered Saturday’s title matchup averaging 15 points a game but managed just six points with a 3-pointer a 3-for-6 shooting from the line.

Sophomore Marilynn Ritter added four points off the bench, and senior starter Emma Johnson finished with two.

“I thought the kids did a nice job trying to fight back at the end,” Burton said. “But I think we shot ourselves in the foot, and it’s unfortunate because that’s a district opponent. Besides seeding, it’s unfortunate the way it unfolded. The kids can compete with anybody. It’s a matter of having confidence and swagger to put four quarters together. And we’re working to do that. We’re young, and we know that. The sooner we do that, the more honors and awards and trophies we’re going to win.”

Higbee returns to CLAA Conference play on Tuesday with a critical matchup at Brunswick. A win could give the Lady Tigers the second seed in the conference tournament, which begins on February 6.

“It’s not a lot of disparity. You’re playing for pride at that point, and we’ve done a pretty good job against them,” Burton said. “It’s about how we bounce back from a tough loss in a couple of days and how hard we are competing. I expect to see them play at a high level.”

Before Higbee begins conference tournament play, the Lady Tigers will take on Van Far in the Mid-Missouri Invitational on Friday, February 3, at Harrisburg High School. The two-day event pits St. Louis area and Mid-Missouri teams against one another.

On Thursday, February 16, Higbee hosts La Plata for the final regular-season game of the season. The Class 1 District 10 basketball tournament begins on February 21.