LONOKE - Forward Ashleigh Guthrie did much of the heavy lifting for Valley View on Saturday, but it was a sophomore who has the Lady Blazers one game away from playing for a state title.
Amanda Meister’s layup with 4 seconds left completed Valley View’s 47-46, come from-behind victory over Ozark in the second round of the Class 4A state tournament at the Gina Cox Center.
Ozark had a shot to win it on its last possession, but Kylie Ladd’s 40-footer at the buzzer was partially blocked.
“We’ll take that,” Valley View Coach Tim Hawkins said. “You’ve got to have someone else stepping up every now and then. To be down like we were and come back shows a lot of heart. We really got after it the second half.”
Guthrie was the catalyst during the Lady Blazers’ second-half charge. The junior finished with a game-high 32 points, including 23 of her team’s final 30 points. At one point, Guthrie scored 18 consecutive points for Valley View (28-5), which trailed 31-17 at halftime.
The Lady Blazers will play Central Arkansas Christian in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Monday.
Ladd scored 18 points to lead Ozark (27-6), which was coming off an impressive victory over Nashville in the first round and looked just as good at the start Saturday.
The Lady Hillbillies scored the game’s first 10 points and led by as many as 12 in the second quarter after Leslie Allred’s three-pointer with5:49 left before halftime. Valley View trailed 22-13 but clawed back to within five after four consecutive free throws until Ladd’s pair of free throws started a quarter-ending 9-0 run.
The Lady Blazers hit just three baskets in the first half and turned over the ball 11 times.
“[Ozark] hit six three-pointers in the first half, and that was something we talked about at halftime,” Hawkins said. “We just didn’t do a good job defensively in the first half and wasn’t playing very well on the offensive in.
“We started finding Guthrie more in the third quarter and got her going. We get going when she gets going.”
Guthrie began putting pressure on Ozark from the outset in the third quarter. She attacked the basket on virtually every possession, and when she wasn’t her teammates found her in spots that Hawkins said were comfortable to her. As a result, Guthrie was able to get easy layups or convert numerous free-throw opportunities after drawing fouls.
CAC 60, BROOKLAND 44
Central Arkansas Christian’s Sydnie Jones delivered when it mattered most for the Lady Mustangs, and it was more than enough to get them into the semifinals.
Jones turned in a game-high 30 points, pulled down 10 rebounds and blocked 8 shots to lead CAC past Brookland. Falan Miller added 12 points for the Lady Mustangs and Chloe Elkins had nine.
Alexa Thompson scored 15 points for Brookland (23-5), and Menley Long had 12. Jordan Maynard finished with nine.
CAC led 20-18 at halftime but pushed its lead to eight late in the third quarter. The Lady Mustangs led 40-29 before back to-back three-pointers by Thompson and Long pulled the Lady Bearcats to within five. But Jones reasserted herself inside and had three consecutive layups to start a 10-0 run that shut down Brookland’s comeback attempt.
Sports, Pages 25 on 03/09/2014