| Publication:El Dorado ; |
Date:Feb 20, 2015; |
Section:Sports; |
Page Number:1B |
|
|
Junction City moves on; Strong falls
By Tony Burns Sports Editor
STRONG - Junction City checked another item off it’s to-do list Thursday as the Lady Dragons smothered Woodlawn 49-33 and advanced to next week’s 2A South Regional Tournament.
Junction City improved to 18-6 on the season and will meet Rison in semifinal action tonight at 6:40 p.m. in Strong.
The Lady Dragons, who accomplished another goal last week by handing Parkers Chapel its only league loss, were never really threatened by Woodlawn (15-12). Junction City’s size in the paint and suffocating ball pressure gave the Lady Bears fits throughout the game.
Junction City blew the game open early with a 17-3 run in the second quarter.
“It feels good. It’s one of the things we wanted to do,” said Junction City coach Henry Harrell. “We got that done so now we can just relax and go play basketball (Friday night).”
Sophomore guards Nikayla Fisher and Jyrezhia Nathan combined for 23 points and six steals.
“The key was our guard play, as well as our big people inside. They got going in the second quarter,” said Harrell. “But, I think the guards was the key along with Chakennia Malone. She played big for us tonight. Plus, everybody
that played for us tonight played good. We’re happy to move on.”
Junction City led 8-7 before Fisher’s driving layup closed the first quarter. Khadijah Webster scored back-to-back buckets on the block to start the second.
After a Woodlawn basket, Nathan drained her second 3-pointer of the game, then scored a lay-up. Fisher followed with two free throws to give the Lady Dragons a 21-9 lead midway in the second. Woodlawn hit a free throw but Fisher scored twice, once on a steal and another on a jumper, as the margin swelled to 25-10.
Jordan Wylie stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer for the Lady Bears, who would trail 29-15 at the half.
Woodlawn fought for 32 minutes but the productivity didn’t match the effort against the superior Lady Dragons, who enjoyed advantages in height, speed and strength.
After losing at Woodlawn earlier, Harrell said his team was especially focused.
“It was a motivating factor. We knew we could play a whole lot better than we played up there,” he said.
“We talked about if we could just come over here and play our basketball, we’d be O.K. The girls were looking forward to the rematch because they knew we didn’t do that good over there.”
Fisher led Junction City with 13 points, three assists and three steals.
Nathan scored 10 with three steals. Malone had eight points and 13 rebounds. Webster scored eight with six blocked shots.
Wylie paced the Lady Bears with 13.
Junction City will square off against top-seeded Rison tonight at 6:40 p.m.
“I told them, we’ve got to play a whole lot better than we did tonight. I’m sure that we will,” said Harrell. “We’ll be ready to play.”
Hampton 69,
Strong 53
With the season on the line, Bri Randall simply wouldn’t let her team lose.
The senior pumped in 22 points to lead Hampton past Strong and into the regional tournament.
“It feels great. Now, we’re just hoping to get a good seed to maybe get one more win and get to state,” said Hampton coach John Traband, whose team improved to 16-9.
“I’m blessed with five seniors that have been with me since seventh grade. They play real well together. Sometimes we play down to people’s levels and sometimes we play above our heads. But, they’ve given me consistent effort all year.
“We revolve around Bri. If Bri comes ready to play, it’s going to be good for us most of the time.”
Hampton scored the first eight points of the game only to see Strong battle back behind the scoring of Moesha Thrower and Charria Perry. The duo scored all of the team’s first quarter points and cut the deficit to 13-12 after one period.
The entire first half was a flurry of offense with both teams taking advantage of porous full court defense. The first half lay-up parade ended with Hampton holding a 34-31 lead.
Strong tied the game early in the third on a 3-pointer by LaTina Davis. But, Randall started flexing her muscles in he paint.
The powerful lefty wheeled and dealed for a pair of buckets on the block, sandwiched around two free throws by Skylar Strickland. Mariah Elliot scored for Strong but Randall powered inside for two more points, giving Hampton a 44-38 lead with 3:06 left in the third.
“I may be biased but I’ve not seen anybody in this conference that can stop her,” said Traband.
Certainly, no one came close on Thursday.
Strong pulled to within four but Randall answered again, triggering a game-changing 11-2 run. Savannah Means drained a 3-pointer during the stretch and Randall added another bucket as the lead went from 44-40 to 55-42 with 5:21 left in the game.
Strong got the deficit down to 10 briefly but Hampton’s Kia Moore scored inside before Chloe Foss hit back-to-back layups to apply the dagger.
Thrower led Strong with 21 points and three steals. Perry added 16 with seven boards. Davis scored nine with five steals.
Annika Murphy and Moore scored 11 and 10, respectively for Hampton. Means and Foss each scored eight.
The Lady Bulldogs play top-seeded Parkers Chapel today at 4 p.m. in the semifinals.
“We’ve got a monster in front of us (Friday),” said Traband. “Coach Young and Parkers Chapel, they’ve done a great job all year. We’ve chopped at ‘em twice and haven’t come close. We’ve got one more shot at ‘em.”
West Side Christian 42,
Victory Christian 24
MAGNOLIA - The Lady Warriors made their 20th win of the season a big one by advancing with an opening round triumph at the AACS State Tournament.
Anna Williams had 19 points and Olivia Wylie added five points for West Side Christian (20-7), who will face either Columbia Christian or Southwest Christian at 7 p.m. today.
West Side Christian's boys basket ball team will begin play today against Southwest Christian.
Game time is set for 2:30 p.m.
