CARLISLE -- The Quitman girls basketball team plays the kind of full-court, man-to-man defense that can confuse and befuddle.
"Most people call it organized chaos," Coach Timothy Hooten said Wednesday after his team's 39-34 victory over Cossatot River at Carlisle High School.
Cossatot River might call it complete chaos.
Quitman (27-6) forced Cossatot River into 33 turnovers, 31 of them coming after falling behind 15-6 in the first quarter, to advance to Friday's Class 2A quarterfinal against the winner of today's Yellville-Summit-East Poinsett County matchup.
The turnover avalanche came after Hooten called timeout with 2:42 to play in the first period after Cossatot River had scored 12 consecutive points.
"We weren't playing them," Hooten said. "We were going through the motions."
It changed after the timeout.
Cossatot River (25-11) couldn't get the ball past half court against the scrambling Quitman defenders.
Cossatot turned the ball over 17 times in the final 10:43 of the first half, managed 3 shot attempts, making 1, and trailed 20-17 at halftime.
"They kinda clamped down on us," Cossatot River Coach Tyler Timms said. "And we panicked."
Quitman slowly pulled away, despite making 6 of 22 free throws, to lead 36-26 with 3:10 to play in the game.
But the Lady Eagles, taking advantage of Quitman's shoddy shooting at the line and from the field, scored on four consecutive trips down the court and trailed 36-34 with 39.6 seconds to play.
The Lady Eagles had the ball and a chance to tie or take the lead, but turned it over one more time.
Quitman, led by Nicki Hooten's 16 points, made 3 of 4 free throws in the final 28.3 seconds to win.
MURFREESBORO 51, BIGELOW 47
Lainie Baxter scored 8 of her game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter, and Murfreesboro (20-13) held off Bigelow (29-4).
Bigelow led 26-23 at halftime, but the Lady Rattlers outscored the Lady Panthers 14-6 to take a 37-32 lead heading into the final quarter.
Jordae Hunter had 13 points for Murfreesboro. Elise Wilson scored 11 points for Bigelow and Jill Nutt had 10.
SPRING HILL 44, POYEN 40
Spring Hill (23-6) scored the game's final six points after Poyen rallied to take a two-point lead with 2:21 to play, as the Lady Bears defeated the Lady Indians (22-9).
Poyen trailed 38-32 with 3:45 to play but tied the game on three-point baskets by Lacy Beaver and Madyson Edwards, then took a 40-38 lead on Kyla Puckett's basket with 2:21 to play.
Spring Hill responded behind leading scorer Katie Rivera, who finished with a game-high 22 points, including the final six points.
Kindi Puckett (11) and Kyla Puckett (10) led Poyen.
Sports on 02/28/2019