CLASS 2A GIRLS

Lady Bears finish perfect run


ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT GAZETTE/MELISSA SUE GERRITS 03/14/2014 -Spring Hill celebrates their win against Mountainburg after their 2A championship game March 15, 2014 in Hot Springs.
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT GAZETTE/MELISSA SUE GERRITS 03/14/2014 -Spring Hill celebrates their win against Mountainburg after their 2A championship game March 15, 2014 in Hot Springs.

HOT SPRINGS - Spring Hill wrapped up a perfect season Saturday with a near-perfect start.

Senior guard Rachel Medina scored 10 points in the first four minutes and finished with a game-high 24 as the Lady Bears cruised to a 67-44 victory over the Mountainburg Lady Dragons in the Class 2A championship game in front of 2,341 fans at Summit Arena.

The Lady Bears (35-0) grabbed the game’s first 10 rebounds, jumped out to an 11-2 lead by the 3:48 mark and were ahead by 18 at the half.

“We like to press. We like to keep the tempo up,” Spring Hill Coach Laura Kidd said of her team’s fast start. “We may miss a few shots at the beginning, but we just relax and get into our defensive sets and hopefully get a lot of points out of our transition game.”

Mountainburg (32-3) came into the game allowing an average of only 31.8 points per game, and the most points any team had scored against the Lady Dragons prior to Saturday was 47. Spring Hill had 41 points by halftime.

“We had opportunities in the first half,” Mountainburg Coach Dan Garringer said. “I don’t think their pressure caused us to turn the ball over excessively, but we missed a lot of shots we would normally make. Part of that was because of their quickness. Rebounding was the largest aspect of the first half. They got a lot of second and third shots.”

Medina had only eight points after the first quarter, but she had plenty of support. Senior center Jamie Nance added 18 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds. Senior guard Claire McMaster scored 13 of her 16 points in the second quarter.

“We tried to look at every game the same and tried not to get nervous,” said Medina, who was 9 of 17 from the floor while grabbing 6 rebounds and making 4 steals. “We really tried playing this state championship like it was just a normal game.”

There was nothing normal about the Lady Bears’ start. Spring Hill held a 17-3 advantage on the boards after one quarter, which led to a 21-11 lead on the scoreboard.

Medina scored eight consecutive points in the first quarter, sparking Spring Hill’s early 11-2 advantage. She hit two three-pointers later in the quarter and finished the first eight minutes with 16 points.

Led by 5-11 senior center Tara Webb, Mountainburg clawed back to within 25-19 at the 4:58 mark of the second quarter, but Spring Hill scored 12 of the next 14 points and the Lady Dragons were never any closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

“Every time we would cut into their lead, [Medina] or [Nance] would come down and make a basket,” Garringer said. “When you’re behind, you can’t exchange baskets with a good basketball team. You have to get some consistent stops, and that never happened.”

Webb finished with 21 points, while senior forward Auburn Peters added 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Kaylyn Moore scored 13 points and had a game-high five steals for the Lady Dragons.

Peters hit a 3-footer with 3:25 left that pulled the Lady Dragons to within 56-44, but Nance answered with a putback at the 3:20 mark to start a string of 11 consecutive Lady Bears’ points to end the game.

Spring Hill finished with a 36-30 advantage in rebounds. The Lady Bears also managed 34 points in the lane compared to only 18 for Mountainburg.

“They had an answer for everything we offered to them,” Garringer said. “That’s the mark of a good basketball team, and they are a good basketball team.”Quotebook “We really tried playing this state championship like it was

just a normal game.” Spring Hill’s Rachel Medina

Sports, Pages 26 on 03/16/2014

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