Christyn Williams' cool start did not hinder Central Arkansas Christian's overall performance Tuesday night.
The Lady Mustangs connected on 14 of 22 shots in the middle two quarters on their way to a 55-38 victory over eStem at Mustang Mountain.
Williams, the Lady Mustangs' star guard and UConn signee, was held to six points and four rebounds in the first half. She finished with 27 points -- including her team's first 11 points of the fourth quarter -- and 11 rebounds.
"She does that," CAC Coach Steve Quattlebaum said. "We've been down in the fourth quarter and she just takes over the game, gets 8 or 10 points really quick. She got a couple of offensive rebounds, which were big. But she does that every game."
CAC (24-1, 13-0) and eStem (15-4, 8-2) completed a double-overtime game Dec. 15 -- which CAC won 76-71 -- but a showdown in Tuesday's 4A/3A-9 Conference rematch never materialized. The teams traded leads six times in the first 11 minutes, but after Brooklynn May's layup with 5:45 left in the third quarter brought the Lady Mets to within 25-24, CAC scored 15 of the next 17 points. The Lady Mustangs' lead never fell under 13 points the rest of the way.
The Lady Mets burned any opportunity of an upset by hitting only 14 of 53 shots, including a 5 of 18 effort on three-pointers.
"It seems like there was a cover on that rim tonight," eStem Coach Joshua Hayes said. "They shot it well. They were at home. But all of our shots were short. The environment, the intensity, I think we were tight early and we couldn't make shots."
Before Williams' fourth-quarter output left any doubt to who would win, forward Jenna Davis helped put CAC on top. The 5-11 senior scored 15 of her 17 points in the first three quarters. She also grabbed eight rebounds.
"It was a huge game for me because it gave me an opportunity to come back from just not scoring a lot of points last time," Davis said. "I wanted to show everyone that the last game wasn't me."
"We knew about [Davis], but we wanted to focus on Williams," Hayes said. "We didn't want anybody else to beat us, but doggone it, we let it happen."
CAC finished 19 of 43 from the floor. The Lady Mets outrebounded CAC 38-36.
Junior Makayla Miller led eStem with nine points while sophomore Alexandria Johnson added eight. Sophomore Trinity Hudson did not score but did collect 13 rebounds.
eSTEM (38)
Adams 3 0-0 7, Miller 3 1-2 9, Hudson 0 0-1 0, Johnson 3 0-0 8, Mallard 2 3-4 7, May 3 1-2 7, Garlinton 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 5-9 38.
CAC (55)
K. Miller 1 2-2 4, C. Williams 9 9-13 27, Davis 7 3-5 17, Bowman 0 1-2 1, Dillard 2 0-0 6, Mashburn 0 0-0 0, Haughaboo 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 15-22 55.
eStem (15-4);7;12; 8;11 -- 38
CAC (24-1);5;16;19;15 -- 55
Three-point goals -- eStem 5 (Miller 2, Johnson 2, Adams); CAC 2 (Dillard 2). Team fouls -- eStem 19, CAC 14. Fouled out -- Adams. Technicals -- Adams 2. Ejected -- Adams.
Sports on 01/31/2018