5A-CENTRAL
BEEBE 54, LITTLE ROCK PARKVIEW 44
A strong defensive effort allowed the Beebe Lady Badgers to move on to the 5A-Central Conference Tournament championship game.
Senior guard Libbie Hill finished with 21 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists to lead Beebe past the Little Rock Parkview Lady Patriots 54-44 in a 5A-Central Tournament semifinal game Thursday at Maumelle High School.
Beebe held Parkview to 13-of-36 shooting from the floor and limited the Lady Patriots' top two guards, seniors Mikayla Alexander and Kania Lasker. Alexander had 15 points, while Lasker added 11 points.
"We came into tonight focused," Beebe Coach Greg Richey said. "We did a real good job defensively, because they've got some lightning-quick guards. For us to keep them in front of us most of the night and hold them in the 40s, that's a successful night against them."
The Lady Badgers (20-9) will play Little Rock Christian at 7 p.m. today in the conference championship game, with the winner earning the league's No. 1 seed in next week's Class 5A state championship tournament, also at Maumelle.
Little Rock Christian defeated Beebe 55-51 on Dec. 30. Richey is looking forward to his Lady Badgers getting another opportunity against the Lady Warriors.
"We feel confident we can compete with them," Richey said. "I feel like we've got a team with a few scoring threats. We'll see how it goes."
Parkview (17-9) takes on Sylvan Hills at 4:30 p.m. today in a consolation game.
Also for Beebe, senior forward Katie Turner had 17 points and seven rebounds. The Lady Badgers shot 18 of 35 from the floor Thursday and were 17 of 22 from the free-throw line.
Beebe led 14-7 at the end of the first quarter. Parkview pulled within 16-14 with 2:18 left in the second quarter on two layups from Lasker and a three-pointer by Alexander.
That was as close as the Lady Patriots would get Thursday, as the Lady Badgers closed the first half on a 10-1 run to extend their lead to 26-15 at halftime.
Hill knocked down a three-pointer from the right wing to push Beebe's lead to 19-14 at the 2:00 mark. She also hit a jumper and a free throw with 36.2 seconds left in the first half to complete a three-point play to make it 24-15.
"It was a big shot," Hill said of her three-pointer. "It definitely got us going."
Beebe led 36-28 at the end of the third quarter and pushed its lead to 42-30 with 6:21 left to play on junior guard Abbie Henley's layup.
Parkview cut the lead to 42-33, but Beebe made it a double-digit game once again, as junior guard Marianna Richey's three-point play with 4:09 remaining stretched her team's advantage to 45-33.
LITTLE ROCK CHRISTIAN 57, SYLVAN HILLS 35
— Erick Taylor
Freshman forward Wynter Rogers had 20 points and 16 rebounds to push Little Rock Christian (27-2) past Sylvan Hills and into today’s 5A-Central Conference tournament championship game.
Junior guard Reagan Bradley added 18 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals for the Lady Warriors. Senior forward Alana Canady had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks for Sylvan Hills (16-12), which went 13 of 52 (25 percent) from the field. Little Rock Christian shot 24 of 54 (44 percent) and held a 36-21 rebounding margin.
Sports on 02/23/2018