SILOAM SPRINGS -- Jonesboro may have a sub-.500 record, but the Lady Hurricane sure isn't playing like it in the Class 6A girls basketball state tournament.
Junior guard Starr Taylor scored a game-high 28 points to help engineer Jonesboro's 69-60 upset victory over Little Rock Hall in the quarterfinals Sunday at Panther Activity Center.
Jonesboro (13-17) will play Greenwood or Benton in the semifinals at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Jonesboro Coach Jodi Davis said the strong start gave her team the confidence it needed to go against the talented Lady Warriors, the No. 1 seed from the 6A-South Conference.
"We just fought and fought with everything we had for four quarters," Davis said. "That's a talented Hall team. They've got two unbelievably talented players. Even though we got up, which was key, we knew they would make a run back at us."
Taylor was a standout on the offensive and defensive ends. She did her part for sure on offense, but also guarded Hall's Terralynn Dominck man to man in Jonesboro's box-and-one defense.
Dominick finished with a team-high 20, but was held scoreless in the fourth quarter. Shakyla Hill added 19 points for Hall (21-8).
Taylor's defense gets overlooked at times, Davis said.
"It's really amazing," Davis said. "People don't understand how hard it is to be the one person in the box-and-one and go down on the offensive end and contribute as much as she does. You're putting out maximum effort on both ends of the floor. She was outstanding."
Aajah McCullough added 11 points for Jonesboro, and Donita Webb chipped in 10.
The Lady Hurricane jumped out to an 11-0 lead and never trailed in the game and led by as many as 20 in the second half. Jonesboro started red-hot, making 13 of 22 shots (59 percent) from the floor in the first two quarters as it took a 44-31 lead into halftime.
Hall made several charges and pulled to within 61-55 with 3:38 remaining, but Jonesboro responded and put away the game.
"We just didn't play well,"Hall Coach Selita Farr said. "We just weren't ready to play."
Sports on 03/09/2015