Lady Bulldogs Lose On Buzzer Beater

CONWAY -- Springdale High's breakthrough season ended on a last-second shot in the Class 7A state quarterfinals Saturday.

West Memphis junior Alexis Hamlet drove coast-to-coast and hit a game-winning layup with less than two seconds remaining to lift the Lady Blue Devils to a 46-44 win.

How They Scored

Girls

West Memphis 46, Springdale 44

Springdale^7^8^11^18^—^44

West Memphis^4^15^10^17^—^46

Springdale (16-11): Lang 15, Daniels 11, Mack 8, Goodsell 5, Owens 3, Taylor 1, Kahn 1.

West Memphis (21-7): Al. Hamlet 24, Turner 9, Stinson 6, Patterson 2, Sain 2, Am. Hamlet 2, Jordan 1.

Springdale tied the game at 44 when Kierra Lang drove the length of the court and made a layup with 7.7 seconds left, but Hamlet hit the last-second shot and also finished with a game-high 24 points to lead West Memphis (21-7) to the win and a spot in the semifinals against Conway.

"First thing I thought was we've got to attack, we've got to move," Hamlet said of game-winning shot. "No overtime."

It was a tough way to lose for Springdale (16-11), which had its best season in more than a decade ended a day after winning its first playoff game since 2003 in its first postseason appearance since 2009.

The Lady Bulldogs trailed for most of the game, but went on an 8-2 run to tie it at 44 on Lang's layup, two of her team-high 15 points.

"I thought that we showed great poise and character late to come back," Springdale coach Heather Hunsucker said. "I just told them that I wish we would have brought that a little sooner."

But Hamlet answered with the game-winner, beating the Springdale defense to the rim and converting. Springdale didn't get a shot off after her layup.

"We wanted to get Kierra to the first pass so we had one of our good defenders on the ball," Hunsucker said. "She's a great player and made a great play."

Springdale was in it until the end despite shooting just 26 percent from the floor and struggling to convert easy opportunities around the rim a day after playing well offensively in a 60-50 win over Fort Smith Southside.

"Some of the shots that we got to fall yesterday didn't fall today," Hunsucker said. "Obviously our defense, I thought there were a few things we could have done better on (Hamlet). But she is a very nice player."

Sports on 03/09/2014

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