Fordyce tops Junction City for district crown

Terrance Armstard/News-Times Junction City's Jada Archie (33), left, shoots above Fordyce's Alyssa Brown (33) and Lamya Bulliner (24) during first-half action of the championship game of the 8-3A District Tournament on Friday night.
Terrance Armstard/News-Times Junction City's Jada Archie (33), left, shoots above Fordyce's Alyssa Brown (33) and Lamya Bulliner (24) during first-half action of the championship game of the 8-3A District Tournament on Friday night.

By Tony Burns

Sports Editor

SMACKOVER - Fordyce wore down Junction City 56-41 Friday night in the girls championship of the 8AAA District Tournament. The Lady Dragons dropped to 15-13 on the season and will carry the district’s No. 2 seed into next week’s 3A Region 4 Tournament at Fordyce.

The Lady Bugs, who improved to 24-5, pestered Junction City with relentless fullcourt pressure and attacked offensively.

“We thought we could get up and down the floor a lot quicker than them and a lot faster than them. We just tried to keep the pressure going. I thought that was the difference in the ball game,” said Fordyce coach Ronald Smead. “We beat them down the floor and our pressure hurt them a little bit, too. I think we wore them down. They got a little tired there in the second half.”

Junction City hung tough early, trailing just 23-21 early in the third. But, the Lady Dragons, despite an influx of young, talented freshmen to the roster, began to wilt under the heat of Fordyce’s presure. The two-point lead jumped to 10 within a 30-second span.

Lamya Bulliner scored in the lane and drew a foul with 5:44 left in the third. She missed the free throw but Caitlin Bulliner got the rebound and scored. Zade Edwards stole the inbounds pass and scored and, 10 seconds later, Lamya Bulliner had another steal and lay-up, pushing the lead to 31-21 with 5:12 left in the third.

The Lady Dragons called a timeout and regained their composure but they would never dig out of the hole.

Fordyce led 37-30 going into the fourth. Junction City’s Jada Archie cut it to 41-32 but the Lady Bugs went on another 8-0 spurt to put the game away. Lamya Bulliner had six points during the run, which pushed the lead to 49-32 with five minutes left to play.

Lamya Bulliner led Fordyce with 21 points. Edwards finished with 12.

Archie scored 16 points for Junction City. Smead laughed when asked about Fordyce’s defensive strategy on the post player.

“She’s pretty tough. She’s a good player,” he said. “We liked it when she was out on the wings more than when she inside.

“But, she can hit the three, too, so we had to come out on her. When she was in there, we tried to front and give good backside help. I thought we did a pretty good job with her on that.”

Camya Hamilton and Taykeetria Rogers added nine and eight, respectively, for the Lady Dragons, who play Thursday at 7 p.m.

STRONG 54,

HAMPTON 40

DERMOTT - A day after scoring 48 points, Dynasty Davis had another big scoring day, finishing with 34 points, as the Lady Bulldogs (19-6) claimed the No. 3 seed for next week's regional tournament with their win in the third-place game at the 8-1A East District Tournament.

Amaya Smith added 10 points in the win for Strong.

LAFAYETTE COUNTY 50,

PARKERS CHAPEL 33

PARKERS CHAPEL - The Lady Trojans led 11-8 after the opening period, but the Lady Cougars outscored Parkers Chapel 16-5 in the second period to take a 24-16 halftime lead before pulling away in the second half to win the third-place game of the 7-2A East District Tournament.

The Lady Trojans (9-19) will be the league's No. 4 seed for the 2A South Regional Tournament at Poyen next week.

T.K. Burson had 13 points and Hannah Barbaree finished with eight points for the Lady Trojans.

SMACKOVER WINS DISTRICT TITLE

SMACKOVER - Smackover's junior girls basketball team won the 8-3A Junior High District Tournament by outlasting Drew Central 31-26.

The top-seeded Lady Bucks trailed 14-12 at halftime, but rallied to take a 22-20 lead through three quarters of play.

Laylah Gaston had 12 points for the Lady Bucks, while Ja'Niya Murphy chipped in with seven points.

OWLS TOP PIRATES FOR TITLE

SMACKOVER - Javier Robinson had 16 points and Deonta Haynes added 12 points, as McGehee topped Drew Central 57-42 to win the 8-3A District Tournament.

Trent Eubanks had nine points for the Pirates, who led 12-9 at the end of the first quarter only to see the Owls rally to take a 23-20 lead at intermission.

McGehee led 40-26 after three periods of play before winning by the final margin.

SPRING HILL TAKES HOME CHAMPIONSHIP

PARKERS CHAPEL - Christy Randle and Katie Rivera had 11 points apiece, as Spring Hill knocked off Harmony Grove 53-44 to win the 7-2A East District Tournament.

Sidney Pigott had 23 points to lead Harmony Grove.

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