Malvern stiffens in 2nd quarter

— Six minutes into his team’s 53-35 victory over Warren on Thursday, Malvern Coach Jess Martin wasn’t thinking about a 20-point blowout.

At least not being on the winning end of one.

The Lady Leopards missed their first 8 shots and 13 of their first 14 as Warren jumped out to an 8-2 lead with 2:38 remaining in the first quarter of their first-round Class 4A South Regional game at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock.

Malvern (17-7) cut its deficit to 14-11 by the end of the first quarter, then shut down Warren’s offense, holding the Lady Lumberjacks (16-8) without a field goalin the second quarter, including no attempts for the first 1:30, to build a 31-18 lead.

“I thought that we came out a little timid and we struggled a little bit early on,” Martin said. “But once we started hitting some shots, I think it opened up the floor a little for us and we started to get our legs underneath us.”

The Lady Leopards had three players finish with 10 or more points, led by Ayleshia Walsh’s 15. Teammates Corredur Vaden and Chantel McGill each finished with 10. Ana Escamilla finished with 15 for the Lady Lumberjacks.

Sports, Pages 23 on 02/25/2011

Upcoming Events