West Memphis stymies Searcy

SEARCY - Alexis Hamlet led West Memphis with 20 points and sophomore Lashala Sain, a 6-0 center, provided assistance inside as the Lady Blue Devils beat Searcy 54-37 Tuesday night.

Sain was assigned to guard Angelina Williams, Searcy’s 6-0 senior, who is a University of Memphis signee.

Williams was held to two first-half points and West Memphis (19-7, 11-2 7A/6A-East) built an early lead.

West Memphis Coach Sheila Burns said she decided to start Sain to counter the presence of Williams.

“We just felt we needed some more length inside tonight,” Burns said.

West Memphis led 24-18 at halftime with Hamlet, the team’s leading scorer, sitting out four minutes of the second quarter with foul trouble. Senior Jasmine Patterson stepped up in her place for the Lady Devils, scoring 6 of her 9 points in the final four minutes of the half.

Williams became a factor in the second half, scoring 12 of her team high 14 points, after Sain drew two quick fouls in the third quarter.

Hamlet scored 11 of her 20 points in the second half while Keona Stinson added 8 points. Sain finished with 12 rebounds for West Memphis.

Searcy’s Brittney Broadway had 12 points for the Lady Lions, 10 coming in the first half.

In the boys game, Rai East and Dannie Gatewood combined for 34 points and West Memphis (12-13, 6-7) defeated Searcy (9-16, 5-8) 60-53 for its fourth victory in a row.

East scored 11 of his 19 points in the first half, and Gatewood scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter.

James Wade scored 23 of his game-high 24 points in the second half to lead Searcy. Emaje Young added 15.

Sports, Pages 23 on 02/26/2014

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