SPRINGDALE -- When Conway needed a big basket the Lady Wampus Cats looked to senior Kianna Speight.
Speight capped a 26-point performance with a 3-pointer to stop a North Little Rock run and give Conway a four-point lead with under two minutes left and the Lady Wampus Cats went on to defeat the Lady Wildcats 71-64 in a semifinal game at the Class 7A State Tournament Monday afternoon.
Class 7A State Tournament
Girls
Conway 71, North Little Rock 64
Conway^19^24^9^19^ — 71
North Little Rock^20^14^14^16^ — 64
Conway (24-6): Speight 26, Danberry 15, Tolefree 14, Willard 10, Pack 2, Evans 2, Rogers 1, Norment 1.
North Little Rock (26-4): Monk 27, Collier 14, Hawkinson 12, Morris 8, Hill 3.
Conway (24-6) will face Fayetteville on Saturday in the Class 7A State Championship in Hot Springs. North Little Rock ends the year at 26-4.
Conway took a 43-34 lead at halftime but North Little Rock cut the lead to 62-61 on a basket by Kyra Collier with 1 minutes, 53 seconds left in the game. But Conway quickly pushed the ball up court and Speight hit a 3-pointer from the corner for the four-point lead with 1:40 left.
North Little Rock would not score from the field the rest of the way and Conway made 6 of 9 free throws the final minute to advance to the title game.
Speight scored 19 of her 26 points, including 15 in the second quarter, to help defending Class 7A state champion Conway to a nine-point lead at halftime. Speight, who has signed with Davidson, missed all of her junior season after suffering a knee injury and the 5-foot-7 guard was playing in just her second state tournament game.
"I thought Kianna played the game of her life," said Conway coach Ashley Nance. "This whole year, we wanted to get Kianna back to Hot Springs because she is an unbelievable player. She battled through nerves our first game, but she really settled down. I thought her penetrating and hitting big shots was huge."
Speight said she was hoping to get the ball in her hands after North Little Rock cut the lead to a point late in the game.
"I did not want this to be the last game of my high school career," Speight said. "I knew I had to leave it all out on the court. I knew somebody had to make a big play there at the end, and when I got the ball I knew I had a chance to make it. I was feeling my shot throughout the game, so I knew that I could be the one to make that play."
Malica Monk led three North Little Rock players in doubles figures with 27 points, including 18 in the first half. Collier finished with 14 points for the Lady Wildcats while Amber Hawkinson had 12.
"Conway is such a good team, and they all shoot so well," said North Little Rock coach Daryl Fimple. "I thought our kids battled and battled. I am very proud of our kids."
Paul Nielsen can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAPaul
Sports on 03/10/2015