LITTLE ROCK — Tyler Scaife launched a successful three-pointer at the end of the third quarter and then unleashed an uncharacteristic scowl at her team’s chief rival.
The Little Rock Hall 5-8 senior guard was on her game Tuesday night, scoring 35 points and grabbing seven rebounds as the top-ranked Lady Warriors secured the 7A/6A-Central Conference title with a 67-59 victory over No. 4 Little Rock Parkview at George Cirks Arena.
Thwarted by the Lady Patriots for most of her career, Scaife scored 12 of her team’s final 14 points, keeping a hard-charging Parkview at bay. Parkview (13-5, 9-4) trailed by 14 points to start the fourth quarter and got only as close as six with 3:56 to play. Prior totheir previous meeting in January, the Lady Warriors had not defeated Parkview since the 2009-2010 season.
“I just felt like we worked so hard this year that I didn’t want this opportunity to slip away,” Scaife said. “Our first goal was to win the conference, and we knew how tough this game was going to be.”
Hall (25-2, 13-0) earned its first conference title since 1995.
Equally impressive for Parkview was senior guard Roshunda Johnson, who led her team with 33 points and also had eight rebounds. Johnson scored 16 of her points in the game’s final 6:53.
“She’s a great player, and she’s going to make great plays and hit shots,” Scaife said ofJohnson. “We both went out there and played hard.”
“It was a great game, and I was pleased with our overall effort,” Parkview Coach Lahoma Howard said. “We were down by 16 points, but the girls didn’t give up. Down the stretch we missed some free throws and some easy baskets, but I can’t complain about that too much.”
Hall senior Tiarra Coffey added 12 points, while Parkview sophomore post player Sausha Davey scored 16 points and senior Derriel Banyard grabbed 10 rebounds.
Sports, Pages 23 on 02/20/2013