ALMA - Huntsville turned to senior guard Vanessa Burgess early and often Tuesday at Charles B. Dyer Arena, and it worked out pretty well.
Burgess scored a game high 26 points, including 10 points in the first quarter, to lead the Lady Eagles to a 56-40 victory over Hot Springs and into the championship game of the Class 5A state tournament.
“We got to the semifinals last year, but nobody thought we would be where we are at,” Huntsville Coach Charles Berry said. “Burgess played like she does every night. She is just that type of player.”
Huntsville (21-7) jumped out to a 14-10 lead behind Burgess and then pushed it to 27-18 by halftime, thanks to 3 three-point baskets in the second quarter.
The Lady Eagles didn’t look back after that, making 11 of 15 from the field in the second half and using an 11-5 runin the third quarter to take a 38-23 lead. Burgess finished off her performance with nine points in the final quarter to help close out the game.
“Most of our shots were from the block, and we’ll always take those,” Berry said. “We like to get the ball inside. I’m a bit old-fashioned in that way.”
Hot Springs, which made 8 of 28 shots in the second half, was limited to seven points inthe third quarter.
“I think that might have been our best defensive game all year,” Berry said. “We didn’t have a slow point in the ballgame all night.”
Cara Cagle added 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting for Huntsville.
Berniezha Tidwell scored 13 and Ashley Clayborn finished with 12 and 6 rebounds for Hot Springs (22-6).
PARAGOULD 40, VILONIA 35
Sydney Layrock made 8 of 14 shots from the field on her way to a game high 21 points, added a game-high 8 rebounds and blocked 4 shots to lead Paragould (22-5) past Vilonia (27-4) and into the title game.
Vilonia held a 23-19 lead at halftime after making 10 of 16 from the field in the first half, but Paragould used some strong shooting in the second half - making 7 of 13 shots - to take the lead and hold on for the victory.
Vilonia made just 4 of 21 shots in the second half.
“They’ve come through so much adversity, and that’s what great teams do,” Paragould Coach Jay Cook said. “We just kept on going. I can’t say enough about this group growing. The last two groups were supposed to make this run. To see this bunch do it, it’s so special.”
Kylea Hightower finished with a team high 11 points and McKenzie Morris added 9 points and 4 assists to lead Vilonia.
Sports, Pages 22 on 03/12/2014