ALMA - Early three point field goals were just what Vilonia needed and it hung on for a 45-39 victory against Little Rock Christian in a second-round match up at the 5A state tournament.
Vilonia (27-3) made eight three-point baskets in the game, including five in the first half, to provide a boost in a low-scoring game.
“That’s big because if we shoot the ball good, it’s going to help you,” Vilonia Coach Alvin Riley said. “Those were big for us. At the end when they cut it down, we just kind of let the air of the ball and we held on.”
Little Rock Christian (20-7) cut the lead to 34-33 with 3:37 left in the fourth quarter, but Vilonia was able to settle down and finish out the game behind that early lead.
“It’s always big to get the lead like that and we obviously needed it,” Riley said. “They made a run and they are a good ball team. We were able to hang on.”
Vilonia jumped out to a 12-6 lead in the first quarter and pushed it to 24-13 at halftime.
Little Rock Christian made a surge in the third quarter,cutting the lead to 31-27 heading into the final quarter.
Vilonia was led by Hannah Schnebelen who scored a game-high 15 points and Audrey Moran added 14.
Annalee Rhodes scored a team-high 13 points while Alexus Thomas added 10 points for Little Rock Christian.
BEEBE 60, HARRISON 55
Kalela Miller made 5 of 8 three-point attempts and scored a game-high 26 points and Anna Anders added 17 points and a team-high 12 rebounds to lead Beebe (17-8) past Harrison (17-11) to advance to the quarterfinals.
Harrison led 30-28 at halftime, but Beebe used a 17-point third quarter to take the lead and extended it to 53-40 early in the fourth quarter.
Cara Barrett made all 12 of her free throw attempts and had a team-high 22 points for Harrison, and Taylor Tate added 11 points. Mary Colliver had a game-high 16 rebounds and five points. HUNTSVILLE 52, GREENE CO. TECH 40
Huntsville (19-7) started slowly but made up for that in the second and third quarter as it defeated Greene County Tech (16-11) in a first-round game.
Greene County Tech led 9-6 after the first quarter, but Huntsville outscored Greene County Tech 14-9 in the second quarter to take a 20-18 lead into halftime.
Huntsville made 13 of 18 field goals in the second half to pull away for good.
Vanessa Burgess led Huntsville with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting and had a team-high 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals. Miranda Campbell added 14 points.
Whitney Maxwell led Greene County Tech with a team-high 15 points.
Sports, Pages 25 on 03/09/2014