HARRISON -- Huntsville guard Miranda Campbell saved her best for last during the 26th annual Lendel Thomas Classic finals on Wednesday night.
Campbell scored all 15 of her points in the second half to help the Lady Eagles claim the tournament title with a 57-42 win over Fort Smith Southside at Goblin Gymnasium.
How They Scored
Huntsville 57, Fort Smith Southside 42
Southside^16^26^—^42
Huntsville^26^31^—^57
Fort Smith Southside (5-7): Hamilton 15, O’Dell 13, Meares 4, Stone 4, Hittner 4, Bishop 2.
Huntsville (11-4): Campbell 15, Sone 14, McCartney 14, Creek 10, Phillips 3, Jones 1.
The 5-foot-6 senior, who earned tournament Most Valuable Player honors, keyed a 13-2 second-half run to put the Lady Eagles in command.
Emily Hamilton scored inside to pull Southside within 31-23, but the Lady Eagles took control from there. Campbell scored 11 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, in Huntsville's big 13-2 run for a 44-25 lead with 8 minutes, 34 seconds left in the second half.
Huntsville coach Charles Berry said Campbell came back strong after a sub-par first half.
"She didn't have a good first half," Berry said. "She didn't shoot it good at all. But she's a shooter and we knew she would come back. We played pretty well. We got good shots and shot the ball pretty well."
The Lady Eagles made 7-of-11 from the floor to start the second half, including four 3-pointers.
Campbell also got help from senior Shelbi McCartney, who scored 12 of her 14 points in the first half. McCartney also did a good job handling the basketball against Southside's full-court pressure in the second half, Berry said.
"She played a great game," Berry said. "She handled the ball real well. Really she played about as well as she could play."
Huntsville, which led 26-16 at halftime, also had two other players in double figures with Chandler Sone adding 14 and Cierra Creek chipping in 10.
Berry is hopeful being in the finals of three tournaments has prepared his team for 4A-1 Conference play.
"We've been in the finals of all three tournaments we played in and won two of them," Berry said. "The other one we lost in the last second."
Southside coach Sherry White said Huntsville was just a little too much for her team to handle. The Lady Rebels committed 18 turnovers for the game and made just 5-of-17 shots from the floor in the first half.
"They chewed us up and spit us out," White said. "We're pretty inexperienced. But we're going to get better."
Hamilton led Southside (5-7) with 15 points, while Whitney O'Dell added 13.
Sports on 01/01/2015