These girls were all in for the fun, but in the end winning still mattered Tuesday night at the All-Metro Classic at Arkansas Baptist College.
Point guard Olivia McWilliams of eStem finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals as Team Howard held on for a 70-66 victory over Team Rountree.
The teams were packed with senior stars from Pulaski County high schools and were named after their coaches, eStem Coach Neci Howard and Jacksonville Coach William Rountree. Howard understood enjoyment came first Tuesday night, and she was relieved not to have the type of pressure she felt last week at the state championships in Hot Springs.
Howard led eStem to the Class 3A championship on Friday, a first for the school, with its 47-38 victory over Harding Academy.
"There was no pressure on me whatsoever tonight," Howard said. "I just said, 'Let's go have a great time.' It was fun."
"This was a lot of fun," Rountree said. "It was a neat experience, and it was a showcase of just some really good basketball players."
Team Howard led by as much as 55-38 in the second half after a reverse layup by McWilliams with 15:29 left. It still led 62-49 with less than seven minutes left, but Team Rountree rushed back with 11 consecutive points to pull to within 62-60 on a layup by Jacksonville's Keaundra Alcorn at 3:54.
Neither coach seemed surprised by Team Rountree's determination.
"Both teams had great players," Howard said. "We expected it to be a fun game, but also a competitive game."
"It just goes to show you that when you have a team full of good players, you never really know what different combinations will do," Rountree said. "We had a combination there in the second half that really kind of caught fire."
A layup by Team Rountree forward Princess Cole of Little Rock Hall tied the score at 66-66 at 1:38.
"At halftime we said were going to come out and get some buckets, and that's what we did," Cole said. "I think we did good."
"Definitely in the second half I got a little worried, but we were still going to have fun regardless," said McWilliams, a University of Central Arkansas signee. "We wanted to have fun, and this was probably the most I've had all season. I mean, winning the state championship of course was fun, but it was a lot of fun to play without really being too concerned about winning or losing."
Cole, who had 16 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, was named Team Rountree's Most Valuable Player.
Little Rock Hall's Anquinette Dozier scored 12 points for Team Howard, and Central Arkansas Christian's Falan Miller added 10. Jacksonville's Tiffany Smith scored 13 for Team Rountree.
Team Howard took a 68-66 lead after McWilliams' layup with 1:27 left, but the clincher came in the final 20 seconds.
Cole dribbled into the Team Rountree front court, but McWilliams sprinted in from behind, knocked away Cole's dribble and reversed course with the ball in hand. She split two defenders near the Team Howard basket and laid in the final points with 18 seconds left.
"She's a baller," Rountree said. "They had some other people who shot it well, but she's a baller. She played well, real well."
Cole agreed.
"She's quick," Cole said. "She can play."
And she had fun doing it.
Sports on 03/19/2014