Lady Wildcats' season comes to an end

El Dorado’s varsity girls saw their basketball season come to an end Thursday. The Lady Wildcats dropped a tough 55-47 decision to Hot Springs in the 5A South Tournament at Wildcat Arena.

El Dorado’s season ended with an 8-14 record. The Lady Trojans, coached by former Union graduate Josh Smith, improved to 11-9 and qualified for the 5A State Tournament.

“It’s a tough loss. No excuses. We’ve got to put the ball in the basket,” said El Dorado coach Jae Kell. “But that snow-break really hurt us. We were on a hot streak shooting-wise, communicating, playing as a team. We looked really good. Then we have a week where we can’t even get in the gym. It really set us back. Of course, they did, too. It was an even playing field. But we were playing so good. I hate that it had to end like this.”

El Dorado trailed 42-41 after a pair of free throws by Charalyn Rester with 3:54 left in the fourth. Hot Springs would score the next eight points while the Lady Cats went scoreless for more than two minutes. Jaylia Reed had two free throws and scored off a steal. Kelariya McDaniel hit four straight free throws to give the Lady Trojans a 50-41 advantage with 1:22 remaining.

El Dorado cut the deficit to 50-44 with 46.9 seconds left and 52-47 with 31.7 remaining. But Hot Springs sank 9-of-10 free throws in the final four minutes of the game to seal the win.

“It was about how I thought it was going to go. Coming down here, it’s always a battle,” said Smith. “I thought we did a better job of keeping them off the offensive boards. That was probably the difference in the game. In the other two games, we let them dominate on their offensive glass. We did a better job there, took care of the ball in the second half and made some free throws down the stretch. That’s the difference.

“Coach Kell had her girls ready to play. They had a great game plan to take Jaylia Reed away from us. They did it for a long time. Just happy we get to continue on.”

In the first half, El Dorado put a double-team on Reed, Hot Springs’ point guard. But Reed scored 12 of her 21 points in the fourth quarter.

Reed scored nine of her team’s final 13 points. But the game might’ve ended differently were it not for the play inside by Jurnee Hicks, who scored 17 points, including 13 in the first three quarters.

“Every night we want (Hicks) to touch it first,” said Smith. “We figure it’s going to make life easier on (Reed) if (Hicks) gets to touch it. We saw some opportunities and I thought she played a great game tonight for us and stepped up big, making free throws and finishing inside.”

The game was tied at 11-11 after El Dorado’s Zaria Brown drained a shot from just inside halfcourt to beat the first quarter buzzer. Carshaila Rozier converted a three-point play and hit a 3-pointer to help the Lady Wildcats build a 23-20 halftime lead.

El Dorado’s lead grew to 28-23 on a bucket by Lindsey Lockhart midway in the third. But the Lady Trojans closed the period with a 9-2 spurt and led 32-30 going into the fourth.

El Dorado’s Mallory Whitten tied the game with two free throws with 4:46 remaining. But the Lady Wildcats cooled off, scoring just two points over the next three minutes.

“We’ve got to score. We’ve got to put the ball in the basket,” said Kell. “Shots that were falling before weren’t tonight. We didn’t have very good offensive rebounding. That’s what really got us beat. We couldn’t get an offensive rebound. Give credit to them. They had great box-outs. They did their job. They boxed us out. They made us take tough shots. It is what it is.”

Reed, Hicks and McDaniel combined to score 51 of Hot Springs’ 55 points.

Rozier scored 15 points for the Lady Wildcats. Rester added eight while Brown and Mae Mae Johnson each scored seven.

“Our kids played hard. That’s what I told them. No one in the gym is going to say ya’ll didn’t play hard. Ya’ll gave it everything you had,” said Kell. “They were diving on the floor for loose balls. Somebody was playing man-to-man the whole game. They gave it everything they had. I’m just proud of them.”

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