CABOT PRE-HOLIDAY GIRLS

Eagles start hot, drills Panthers

CABOT - Vilonia came out gunning from long range Saturday night and never let up as the Lady Eagles beat the host Cabot Lady Panthers 46-28 in the girls final of the Cabot Pre-Holiday Tournament.

The Lady Eagles (7-0) made four consecutive threepointers in the first quarter and three more in a row in the third quarter when they pulled away from the Lady Panthers (6-3).

“They look pretty good when they shoot it well like that,” Vilonia Coach Alvin Riley said. “I’ve got a good group of girls, and almost all of them are good shooters.”

Seniors Ashlyn Hightower and McKenzie Gray took turns making three-pointers in the first quarter as Vilonia grabbed a 14-10 advantage.

The second quarter was a defensive struggle that saw the Lady Eagles take a 16-13 lead into halftime.

Coming out of the break, junior guard Audrey Moran took over for Vilonia. Moran went on a 9-2 run by herself to open the third quarter. Herdrive in the lane near the end of the quarter gave the Lady Eagles a 35-19 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“She did a good job, that was definitely her best game of the year,” Riley said. “That was the most aggressive I’ve seen her, taking her man off the dribble and scoring.”

Moran led Vilonia with 13 points. Gray added 12 points - all on three-pointers.

The Lady Panthers could never get anything going offensively to make a comeback. Cabot missed six consecutive chances underneath the basket at one point early in the fourth. Vilonia went on another 9-2run to open the fourth and its largest lead was 44-21.

“Our girls do a really good job on defense,” Riley said. “They did a good job not allowing Cabot to get the ball down where they want to. When they did get it there, we really swarmed to ball and challenged the shot.”

Sports, Pages 27 on 12/09/2012

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