CLARKSVILLE, Mo. — Coming off a five-year title drought at home, the Lady Hawks are once again Clopton Tournament champions with a 64-37 victory over six-seed Louisiana on Friday night.

It was a packed house for the championship and the student sections showed up in numbers. A physical game throughout, the score remained tight through the first half before Clopton was able to pull away in the second half. Coach Deaven Streed pointed out the trend is to wear down the opposition so the game may be tighter early but pays off in the end.

“This game was really good for us. Louisiana is a heck of a team,” Streed said. “They’re a really good team and it was a great game, especially the first half. We could see them a couple of more times still. It was a physical game,” she noted. “It was kind of a battle of who was going to withstand it the most.

Streed added it was a great atmosphere for the championship with fans packing the stands.

Three girls from the championship game were also named to the All-Tournament Team including Louisiana’s Trinity Chatman and Clopton’s Ashlyn Noah and Charleigh Spoonster was named MVP.

She told Eagle 102 Sports the game was fun and loud with wall-to-wall fans and a good learning experience.

“It was amazing. We didn’t have the tournament last year so to have the place packed for this game was great. To me, this is a reflection game to get a little bit tougher when it comes to physicality. It really was just a fun game. It was a good game for us to play, they were physical and we need games like that.”

Clopton jumped out to an early lead in the championship game with tallies from Ashlyn and Calleigh Noah. A three-ball from Reece Wommack cut the lead in half and another big three from Cyrinity Chatman helped the Lady Bulldogs tie the score at 8 at the end of the first period.

The Noahs continued to rack up points in the second quarter as Ashlyn had seven and Calleigh had six as Clopton outscored Louisiana 13-7 for a 10-point halftime lead, 25-15.

The Lady Hawks outpaced Louisiana 19-13 in the third and closed out the win with a 20-9 fourth quarter. Clopton was 9-14 from the free throw line and Louisiana was 5-9.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Clopton: 8-13-19-20 – 64

Louisiana: 8-7-13-9 – 37

Ashlyn Noah paced the Lady Hawks with 21 points; Calleigh Noah, 15; Beau Beauchamp, 11; Charleigh Spoonster, 6; Carlyn Lockard, 4; Tinleigh Spoonster, 3; Campbell Lindsay, 2; Bailey Land, 2.

Cyrinity Chatman led the Lady Bulldogs with 17 points; Trinity Chatman, 6; Wommack, 6; Nakyia Griffith, 4; Kamry Ahart, 3; Taetum Wallace, 1.