SEARCY -- Christyn Williams' stellar high school career will extend into the regional tournament.
The senior shooting guard finished with 38 points and 10 rebounds, and Central Arkansas Christian defeated Stuttgart 63-40 on Tuesday in the 2-4A District Tournament at the Riverview Activity Center.
CAC (28-1) has clinched a spot in the Class 4A East regional next week in Lonoke. The Lady Mustangs will face eStem or Southside Batesville at 4 p.m. Thursday in a district semifinal game.
Williams, a University of Connecticut signee who was averaging 25 points per game entering Tuesday, scored 18 of her 38 points in the first half as CAC (28-1) never trailed, leading 17-10 after one quarter, 35-26 at halftime and 50-32 at the end of the third quarter.
"Our kids look for her a lot," CAC Coach Steve Quattlebaum said. "We tried to get her the ball. She just does her thing."
UConn women's associate head coach Chris Dailey was in attendance to watch Williams, who signed with the Huskies in November.
CAC jumped out to a 7-0 lead. The Lady Mustangs extended their lead to 28-16 with 5:01 left in the second quarter on Williams' three-point play, then took a 35-26 lead into halftime.
Williams scored 13 of the Lady Mustangs' 15 third-quarter points to help her team pull away from the Lady Ricebirds, stretching the advantage to 46-29 with 2:00 remaining in the quarter. CAC led 50-32 entering the fourth quarter.
"We talked to them at halftime pretty good about the defensive effort. She [Williams] takes that personally," Quattlebaum said. "She turned it on. She took over."
Freshman shooting guard Bethany Dillard added 13 points for CAC.
Stuttgart (19-8) was led by Traesha Hobbs' nine points.
LONOKE 56, HEBER SPRINGS 35
Keiunna Walker scored 33 points to lead Lonoke (22-7) past Heber Springs (12-12).
Arius McCain had 12 points for the Lady Jackrabbits, who trailed 14-7 at the end of the first quarter but led 22-19 at halftime.
Lonoke pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring Heber Springs 20-7 to stretch its lead to 42-26 by the end of the third quarter.
Serena Pruitt led the Lady Panthers with 14 points.
BOYS
BAPTIST PREP 59, LONOKE 48
Isaac McBride scored 21 points, including four three-pointers, in Baptist Prep's victory over Lonoke.
Baptist Prep (23-5) will face Helena-West Helena or Riverview at 7:45 p.m. Thursday in a district semifinal. Lonoke finished its season at 13-14.
The Jackrabbits pulled within 29-25 with 5:22 left in the third quarter, but the Eagles closed the quarter on a 18-5 run to lead 47-30 entering the fourth quarter.
James Singleton had 16 points for the Eagles, who led 12-8 after one quarter and 26-18 at halftime. Baptist Prep made seven three-pointers.
Tyriqe Jackson led the Jackrabbits with a game-high 24 points.
SOUTHSIDE BATESVILLE 47, CAC 18
Will Sitkowski scored 12 points as Southside Batesville (24-4) routed Central Arkansas Christian (8-20).
Grant Patterson added 10 points for the Southerners, who will face Stuttgart or eStem at 5:15 p.m. Thursday in a semifinal game.
Southside Batesville led 16-7 at the end of the first quarter, 29-11 at halftime and 43-16 at the end of the third quarter.
Kam Vick led the Mustangs with nine points.
Sports on 02/14/2018