SEARCY -- A poor shooting start did little to stop eStem Wednesday night.
Junior guard MaKayla Miller scored 13 of her 19 points in the second half as the Lady Mets pulled away from Southside Batesville for a 53-37 victory in the opening round of the 2-4A Tournament at Riverview High School.
The Lady Mets (17-6) hit only 2 of 14 shots in the first quarter, but eStem eventually wore down the shorthanded Lady Southerners (18-10).
"We came out a little tight," eStem Coach Joshua Hayes said. "It's postseason time and it's either win or go home. We were getting good shots. We just had to loosen up and take our time. I told them to play like they were in the gym by themselves. Eventually, I knew their shots would fall."
The victory extends the Lady Mets' season into next week's regional tournament in Lonoke and sends them into tonight's district semifinals against top-seeded Central Arkansas Christian.
Southside had only seven players available for Wednesday's contest, and the Lady Southerners started two freshmen -- 5-9 guard London Cuzzort and 5-7 guard Rylie Freeman. Southside was no pushover, holding a lead of 9-5 after one quarter and tying the game at 22-22 early in the second half.
Cuzzort and Freeman -- who hit 3 three-pointers -- wound up as Southside's leading scorers, putting in 11 points each. Senior Sydney Sweat led the Lady Southerners with three assists.
Southside was still within 35-29 at the start of the fourth quarter, but was outscored 18-8 in the final eight minutes.
"We wanted to press them. We wanted to run them," Hayes said. "We had a lot more players and it worked to our favor."
Sophomore Alexandria Johnson came off the bench to add 11 points for eStem. Nine of her points came via three-pointers.
Senior Mariah Adams was held to one rebound and one assist in the first half. She finished with 9 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Jaylen Mallard, a 6-1 junior, led the Lady Mets in rebounding with 10.
The Lady Mets hit 20 of 51 shots from the floor. Southside hit 12 of 30 attempts and was outrebounded 32-16.
RIVERVIEW 64,
HELENA-WEST HELENA 44
Junior Abbie Jiles scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Lady Raiders (21-7) rolled to a victory over the Lady Cougars (17-5).
Riverview will play Lonoke in tonight's semifinals.
The two teams exchanged leads five times in the opening quarter, but Riverview scored the final eight points of the first quarter, led 15-9 and never trailed again.
Junior Alexia Broadway and sophomore Parker Smith each added 13 points for the Lady Raiders, who led 33-17 at the half and 51-27 after three quarters.
Helena-West Helena was paced by 13 points from senior J'Tyia Thomas. Sophomore Tara Green added nine points while grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds.
Riverview was 26 of 50 from the floor while Helena-West Helena was 17 of 56.
BOYS
RIVERVIEW 62,
HELENA-WEST HELENA 47
Riverview scored 13 consecutive points early in the fourth quarter to take charge of the Raiders' first-round game against the Cougars.
Tied at 40-40, the Raiders started their game-deciding run on back-to-back baskets by junior Sincere Brookins. Senior J.T. Smith -- who finished with 14 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds -- followed with consecutive layups and Riverview (22-6) was never contested again.
Riverview advances to play Baptist Prep in tonight's district semifinals.
Sophomore Quinton Brown led Riverview with 15 points and senior Isaiah Patterson chipped in with 10.
Helena-West Helena (20-2) picked up 12 points from senior Michael Boone while senior Quanderius Sanders and junior Demond Franklin added nine points each. Senior Justin Redmon led the Cougars with seven rebounds.
Riverview was 22 of 41 from the floor, including a 4-of-7 performance on three-pointers. Helena-West Helena was 19-of-40 shooting, including a 5-of-18 performance from three-point range.
Sports on 02/15/2018