West Fork Comes Up Short In Finals

— West Fork clawed and scratched through the first two days of the 3A Region 1 Tournament to earn a spot in the tournament finals on Saturday. But after a surprise appearance in the championship game as the No. 4 seed from the 3A-1 West conference, the Lady Tigers came up short in the end, dropping a 47-41 decision to Paris on Saturday.

The Lady Eagles (27-6) overcame a slow start in the opening minutes, then capped off the program's first regional championship with a furious push in the second and third quarters. With the victory, Paris earned the No. 1 seed from Region 1 and will face Manilla at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the first round of the Class 3A Tournament at Charleston. West Fork will face Valley Springs at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the first round.

3A Region 1 Girls

Paris 47, West Fork 41

West Fork^11^2^10^18^—^41

Paris^7^12^20^8^—^47

West Fork (14-11): Karnes 13, Quinton 9, Selph 7, Griffin 6, Hays 4, Smith 2.

Paris (27-6): Highfield 16, Huber 9, Peevy 8, Tencleve 6, M. Huber 4, Simmon 4.

"We played very well here at Elkins after I didn't think we played that well down at Lamar in districts," Paris coach Toby Tevebaugh said. "West Fork played multiple defenses against us and I thought we handled it well."

After hitting just 2 of 12 three-pointers in the first half, the Lady Eagles opened the third quarter by knocking down their first three 3-point attempts. Morgan Highfield, led Paris with a game-high 16, got shooting turnaround started with a pair of 3's right after intermission.

"I was feeling sick and I told my team that when I'm sick I sometimes get grumpy," Tevebaugh said. "I think after awhile they decided to just tune me out and play."

West Fork (14-11) could never fully recover from poor shooting in the second and third quarter. The Lady Tigers were just 1 of 10 from the field in the second quarter, then made just two more field goals in the third as Paris built a 39-21 lead.

"There was a lid on the bucket," West Fork coach Rodney Selph said. "We had good looks, we just couldn't put the ball in the hole."

Despite trailing by 19, West Fork did claw back to within single digits in the closing minutes behind a late 3-point barrage. "It would have been real easy when we were down my 19 to go ahead and get beat by about 28," Selph said. "But we kept after it and that's something that we can carry with us into the state tournament."

Christa Huber added nine points for Paris, while Oliva Karnes led the Lady Tigers with 13.

Sports on 03/03/2014

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