SEARCY — A fourth quarter rally kept Greenland’s quest for a second consecutive state championship alive.
The Lady Pirates battled back from an 12-point deficit over the game’s final six minutes, then had to sweat out a last-second heave to hold on for a 55-53 victory over Mountain View on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A girls state tournament.
“That was simply a hard fought win,” Greenland Coach Alan Barton said. “They never got down, never gave up, not one time. We got behind and the girls stayed with it.
“They didn’t panic and instead made plays when we needed them most.”
Kiana Thompson scored 17 points and Morgan Miller 12 to lead Greenland (18-13). Michele Dobbins scored 21 points to lead Mountain View(21-4), while Markie Seay finished with 13.
Yet in a game that featured plenty of back-and-forth play in the first half, with the teams trading leads on seemingly every other possession, it was a pair of runs by each team in the second half that made the difference.
Greenland led 19-14 at halftime and 27-17 with 5:49 left in the third quarter after Miller’s three-pointer, but the Lady Pirates didn’t score again for the remainder of the period.
Mountain View, in turn, went on a 20-0 run sparked by hot shooting of Dobbins. The senior scored 11 points in the spurt, including nine in a row at one point. Seay finished off the quarter with back-to-back baskets, including a jumper just before the buzzer.
Cortney Jones’ three to start the fourth quarter gave Mountain View a 40-27 lead, its largest of the game, but Greenland started getting defensive stops and began to slowly chip away at its deficit.
“I called a timeout and told the girls that we’d been in this situation before,” Barton said. “I told them ‘Lets’s see what you got.’ They responded like I knew they would.”
Mountain View led 44-34 with 5:45 remaining in the game until consecutive three pointers from Greenland’s MacKenzie Brown changed the complexion of the game. The Lady Pirates outscored the Lady Yellow Jackets 17-6 over a four-minute stretch and grabbed a 51-50 lead on Thompson’s layup.
Greenland pushed its cushion to 55-50 before two free throws by Jones and one by Hanna Davis trimmed Mountain View’s deficit to three with .9 seconds left.
Greenland tried to throw it long on the ensuing in bounds pass, but Davis stole the ball and watched as her half-court shot circled off the rim.
JESSIEVILLE 45, PARIS 35
Peyton Herrell scored 10 of her game high 20 points in the first quarter to help Jessieville (32-0) stay alive in the tournament.
Payton Lamb added 11 points and Justice Reliford six for Jessieville, which will play eStem in a semifinal match up at noon today.
Christa Huber scored 14 points and Morgan Highfield had eight to pace Paris (24-10).
ELKINS 49, BERGMAN 43
Skylar Johnson’s 17 points helped send the Lady Elks into the semifinals with a victory over Bergman.
Mariah Hendrix and Andrea Wilson added six points apiece for Elkins (19-10), which will face Greenland at 6 tonight. The Lady Elks won two prior meetings with the Lady Pirates earlier in the season.
Ashley Martin scored 16 points and Torrie Weaver had 10 for Bergman (28-12).
Sports, Pages 23 on 03/02/2013