HOT SPRINGS -- Wynter came early for Little Rock Christian, and too soon for Jonesboro's cold-shooting Lady Hurricane.
Wynter Rogers scored 15 of her game-high 22 points in the first half as the Lady Warriors blew out Jonesboro 63-35 in the girls Class 5A state championship game in front 4,316 spectators at Bank OZK Arena on Friday night.
Rogers, a 6-0 sophomore forward, hit 9 of 14 field-goal attempts, 3 for 4 free throws and grabbed 13 rebounds as Little Rock Christian (29-2) earned its first state championship in girls basketball. Combined with senior Amber Brown's 18-point, 14-rebound effort, the Lady Warriors had no trouble unseating the defending state champions.
"I'm proud of all of them," said Little Rock Christian Coach Ronald Rogers, who is Wynter's father. "But [Wynter] was blessed tonight to have that type of game."
She also blocked three shots and made two steals, which did not surprise Jonesboro Coach Jodi Christenberry in the least.
"We saw them in November at the Conway tournament, and Wynter was one of their main players that was dominant inside," Christenberry said. "Our 6-2 freshman [Destiny Thomas] was shellshocked a little bit, so we didn't get to play her as much as I wanted to. But I knew Wynter was a very good player."
Little Rock Christian led 17-4 after one quarter and 33-8 at the half as Jonesboro struggled with its shots, going 4 of 33 from the floor in the first half.
Jonesboro (22-9) hit 12 of 65 shots overall and 3 of 24 on three-point attempts. The Lady Hurricane's junior standout Destiny Salary scored 4 points while hitting 2 of 21 field-goal attempts. Salary's night ended with 1:45 left when she went down with an apparent injury to her right knee.
"Our shots just didn't fall for us. That's the bottom line," Christenberry said. "We knew they were a very good team coming in. We were going to have to play one of our best games of the year to beat them. I don't know how many of our shots rimmed in and out. Some nights they just don't fall."
Jonesboro grabbed 18 offensive rebounds but managed only seven second-chance points.
"Jonesboro got loose a couple of times, and they didn't hit the shots," Coach Rogers said. "But I truly felt our defense caused them a lot of problems. We told our kids all week long that we wanted [Jonesboro] to take contested shots and don't let them get in the lane."
Reagan Bradley, who had scored 34 points in a quarterfinal victory over Nettleton and was named the tournament's MVP, was held to 10 points and six rebounds on Friday, but the senior guard's passing more than made up for her lack of scoring.
On back-to-back possessions late in the second quarter, Bradley found Rogers open twice -- once with a sharp pass that resulted in a layup, and the second with a behind-the-back pass that allowed Rogers to hit a stop-and-pop 8-footer.
"You don't know what to expect when you play with Reagan," Wynter Rogers said. "I've been playing with her for two years now, and we do all sorts of stuff like that in practice. She told me to keep running on that play, and she found a way to get the ball to me."
Bradley finished with a game-high five assists.
"We tell our kids to keep your hands ready because you don't know when the ball's coming," Coach Rogers said. "She will pop you upside the head if you're not watching. And that's happened a lot. They know. It can come with a bullet, a lob or bounce pass behind the back. Sometimes as a coach you see one of those and go, 'Oooooh, that's nice.' "
Brown had 2 points and 6 rebounds at the half, but she came alive late, scoring 14 points and grabbing 7 rebounds in the game's final 5:28.
"That was the best fourth quarter I've ever had," she said.
Jonesboro's Kayla Mitchell, who led her team with 12 points and five steals, hit an 8-footer with 5:15 left in the first quarter that cut Little Rock Christian's lead to 8-4, but the Lady Hurricane went the next 6:15 without a point. The Lady Warriors also scored the final 14 points of the second quarter.
Little Rock Christian hit 13 of 23 shots in the first half and 24 of 47 overall. The Lady Warriors also enjoyed a 49-35 advantage on the boards and outscored Jonesboro in the paint 38-14.
"Jonesboro is a really good team," Coach Rogers said. "But our defense came out and took control of the game early. This was huge for our program."
Sports on 03/09/2019