CLINTON – The opening round of the girls portion of the Missouri River Valley Conference Tournament was a tale of two halves for the Tigers. The Tigers scored the first bucket in their 47-25 Dec. 14 loss to Clinton and held a slight lead for much of the first quarter before the Cardinals took the lead late in the quarter and led 7-5 at quarter’s end. The teams traded buckets for much of the second quarter, with the Cardinals leading 17-15 at halftime. The second half started with the Tigers jumping ahead early, but they fell cold around three minutes into the third quarter. The Cardinals finished the quarter leading 33-20. The fourth quarter was nearly a mirror image of the third, with Clinton outscoring Excelsior Springs 14-5. Senior Mallory Millsap led all scorers with 16 points. Millsap’s stat line also included nine rebounds, four steals and two assists. Senior Rylie Stottlemyre, junior Lizzy Hormel, and sophomor...