More than a few shooting guards have struggled at Southside Gym over the years.

That was not the case with Ozark senior Hannah Ladd.

Of course, just being on the court was half the battle in Tuesday’s 67-52 win over Southside.

“I love compact gyms,” Ladd said. “Ours (Ozark Activities Association) is really open, and we have our on and off again games, but we really shoot well in closed guys because we have an auxiliary gym we practice in every day. So we’re kind of used to it no matter where we go.”

Ladd scored 21 of her season high 26 points in the first half Tuesday, helping Ozark remain unbeaten two games into the season.

For Ladd, who had missed most of the previous two seasons with injuries, was 8-of-9 from the floor in the first half, including 4-of-5 from the 3-point line.

“It’s really great to see her back out there; she makes all of our kids better,” Ozark coach Bret Nagel said. “She’s a great scorer, obviously for us, but she does a lot more to get other kids involved.”

Ladd had plenty of help.

Teammate Meagan Harris was hot early, scoring nine of her 13 points in the second quarter. Ariel Walker scored eight of her 12 points in the fourth quarter, and Lauren Lane finished with 10 points.

“Ariel does a really good job of getting the ball down the court,” Ladd said. “She’s the one person I trust the most getting the ball down the court. We’re not a very big team, so with Meg, she’s really good-sized girl for us this year and she works really well inside and outside thee 3-point line, because she can stroke it.”

“The Walker girl, she was struggling a little bit with her shot and I explained to her that there’s more to her game than just the 3-pointer,” Nagel said. “When she’s executing, like she did tonight, she’s tough to beat.”

Girls

Ozark 67, Southside 52

Ozark 15 21 18 13 — 67

Southside 13 11 15 13 — 52

Ozark (2-0): Ladd 26, Harris 13, Walker 12, Lane 10, Nagel 3, Schaffer 3.

Southside (0-1): Carson 27, Graham 5, L. Jones 5, Schmidt 5, Laranjo 2, Medina 2, Fondren 2, Rainwater 2, Rice 1, Kleck 1.

Boys

Southside 54, Ozark 50

Ozark 8 10 15 17 — 50

Southside 9 11 20 14 — 54

Ozark (1-1): Lawson 23, Masingale 14, Needham 7, Dorrough 3, Haberer 3.

Southside (1-1): Hamilton 20, Marshall 13, Moore 10, Brewer 6, Thomas 3, Sykes 2.

Southside, which will host Heritage on Friday at 6, led only briefly in the first quarter before Ozark took control at 15-9 with a pair of Ladd 3-pointers.

But the Mavericks crept to within two (15-13) after one quarter by hitting four late free throws. The Mavs were 6-of-12 from the foul line in the first quarter and 14-of-24 overall.

Senior Kelly Carson scored 19 of her game-high 27 points in the second half of play.

Southside sophomore London Jones played well with five points.
