By Tony Burns
Sports Editor
SMACKOVER - Smackover’s girls started the week with a disappointing 13-point loss to Warren in the Dual State Tournament.
The Lady Bucks came up short again to the Lady Lumberjacks on Friday but had a much better effort in the 47-40 defeat.
Smackover fell to 6-3 on the season and takes on Hampton today at 3 p.m. at the Dual State Tournament in Junction City.
Warren improved to 8-2 and will play Junction City tonight at 7 in the Dual State finals.
Smackover held a slim lead late in the third quarter on Friday. But, Warren expanded a two-point lead to 10 with an 8-0 run in the final quarter.
“We came out and did a little bit different on the defense we were running. The first game we ran a 1-3-1 but we packed the paint a little bit. We gave up some easy set shots that we didn’t give up this game. We tweaked our defense a little bit,” said Smackover coach Tripper Rowton.
“We didn’t press this game because we’ve already had two games this week, plus this. We’ve got another one (today). We wanted to rest some legs a little bit, also.”
Perhaps the biggest difference from Monday was simply effort.
The Lady Bucks scratched, clawed and fought and managed to be competitive on the glass despite giving up a size disadvantage.
The defense was led by Makayla Toney, who managed eight rebounds and four steals.
In fact, Smackover probably gave a winning effort but managed just 6-for-23 at the free throw line, which led to its demise.
“If we hit our season average on free throws, we win that game by about four or five points,” said Rowton.
Senior Sharnes McGhee gave a Herculean effort on offense, pumping in 24 points to go with eight rebounds. Laynie Clark had nine rebounds, including seven off the offensive glass.
The Lady Lumberjacks opened up an early 16-7 advantage before Smackover climbed back into the game, led by McGhee, who scored five straight to shrink the deficit to 22-20 at the half.
Warren scored to open the third but Smackover came back with buckets by Zakiyah Teasley, McGhee and Kaitlyn Goodwin, which gave the Lady Bucks a 26-24 advantage.
Smackover led 31-27 with 2:15 left in the third after buckets by McGhee and Camaree Jones and Toney’s free throw.
The Lady Lumberjacks seized control, however, with an 8-0 spurt, capped by Faith Jackson’s 3-pointer. Warren led 37-35 and then went on another 8-0 spurt. Dasha Hampton’s lay-up pushed the lead to 45-35 with 1:51 left in the game.
“We made some mistakes down the stretch. I had a big coaching mistake where I told my girl she needed to foul. I thought she only had three fouls but she had four and she fouled out,” said Rowton. “They played extremely hard, never gave up and fought to the end.”
Hampton and Jackson led Warren with 13 and 12, respectively.
BRADLEY 43,
PARKERS CHAPEL 39 (OT)
BRADLEY - Terri Malone had 20 points, but it wasn't enough, as Bradley rallied late in regulation to force the extra session before pulling away to win in a Class 1A-2A District 15 contest.
The game was close throughout with the game tied at 14-all at intermission before Bradley took a 27-22 lead into the final period.
The Lady Trojans (3-6, 2-2) fought back and took the lead, but couldn't hang on.
T.K. Burson joined Malone in double figrues with 10 points for the Lady Trojans.
HERMITAGE 46,
STRONG 31
HERMITAGE - A second straight poor night at the charity stripe came back to haunt the Lady Bulldogs (4-3, 1-2), who were 14-of-33 from the free-throw line after going 17-of-37 at Hampton on Thursday en route to losing their second straight in Class 1A-2A District 16 play.
Dynasty Davis had a double-double for Strong, tallying 23 points and 10 steals.
Kiki Shelton had five points for the Lady Bulldogs, who will be idle until taking on Harmony Grove in the opening round of the Hampton Tournament on Dec. 28.
GLENBROOK (LA.) 45,
WEST SIDE CHRISTIAN 35
GLENBROOK, La. - Sofia Narciso had 14 points for the Lady Warriors (11-3), who also got nine points from Lauren Land and seven points from Hannah Miller.