Moberly Splits With Hannibal in Basketball DH

Moberly and Hannibal split a varsity basketball doubleheader Tuesday in Moberly with the Lady Spartans, and Pirates coming out with the victories.

The Lady Spartans beat the Lady Pirates 47-45. In a back and forth first half, Lady Spartan senior Mary Billington gave Moberly a spark heading into the locker room.

Lucas Smith with the call on KWIX and centralmoinfo.com. Billington went on to score a game-high 18 points in Moberly’s victory. Behind Billington, freshman Kennedy Messer scored eight points, all in the second half. Messer saw foul trouble in the first half, but came alive in the second proving to be a nice compliment to Billington. Hannibal head coach Evan Cerven talked about the difficulty in guarding the Lady Spartans…

Seniors MaKayla Payne and Alessia Oliver added seven and eight points, respectively. Moberly head coach Tony Vestal said it was nice to spread out the scoring.

For the Lady Pirates, sophomore post Bella Falconer led the way with 17 points, followed by senior Abby Baumann with 10. Senior point guard Kaylee Falconer was held to three points.

Moberly breaks a three-game losing streak and improves to 3-3, and 1-1 in the NCMC. Hannibal falls to 4-2, and 0-1 in conference play.

In the boys game, Hannibal held onto a 54-50 win. The Spartans stayed in touching distance with the Pirates all game, but only held the lead once late in the third quarter. When the Spartans took a 33-30 lead, Hannibal went on a 5-0 run to close the quarter. In the fourth quarter, Pirate senior Adreke Brumbaugh forced multiple turnovers, and scored in transition to extend Hannibal’s lead to 10. Moberly picked up a pair of triples from Jaisten Payne and Dominic Stoneking to cut it close. Spartans coach Cord Hagedorn said Hannibal’s possessions were a little better in the fourth quarter.

Brumbaugh finished with 15 for the 3-4 Pirates, and junior Tristen Terrill added 13. Payne scored a game high 24 as Moberly drops to 1-4, and junior Toby Short scored 13.

The Spartans welcome Boonville Thursday, while the Pirates next travel to Mexico Friday.

Moberly girls coach Tony Vestal: