Lady Bobcats show grit in Blue Eye tournament

The Berryville Lady Bobcats held their own at last week’s Blue Eye Invitational Tournament, competing toe-to-toe with some talented opposition.

Berryville opened the tournament with a 56-26 victory over Reeds Spring in a first-round game on Tuesday, Nov. 29. The Lady Bobcats then hung with Springfield Glendale for the first half of a 48-28 loss in the tournament semifinals on Thursday, Dec. 1, before falling to Forsyth, Mo., 54-46 in the third-place game on Friday, Dec. 2.

“We played well,” Berryville coach Daniel Cornelison said. “We ran into a real good Glendale team in the semifinals. They’re in the highest classification in the state of Missouri. They’re really long and athletic. We were real competitive. It was a seven-point game going into the fourth quarter. We competed real hard in that game and I was really pleased with our effort. And then Forsyth was kind of along the same lines as Glendale. They were big, strong, fast and athletic.”

Senior guard Hannah Youngblood led Berryville with 20 points in the win over Reeds Spring, while freshman Kaylyn Smith added 13. Senior Mia Thurman had 10 points against Glendale. In the loss to Forsyth, Youngblood had 17 points while Smith added 13 and Thurman scored 10.

Cornelison said playing against quality competition is good preparation for the Lady Bobcats’ upcoming conference schedule.

“We’ve played some really good teams, which is what we need,” he said. “We were very, very competitive in every game we played. I was really proud of the girls’ effort. They played real hard. Hannah played real well for us in the tournament. Mia played real well for us in the tournaments. Kaylyn played real well for us in the tournament. I feel like we’re getting better every day. We’ve just got to keep going to work every day and see what happens.”

Berryville lost to Omaha 41-19 Monday in the first round of the Green Forest Holiday Tournament. The Lady Bobcats will play Lead Hill at 6:40 p.m. Thursday.