MAGNOLIA -- Despite a record under .500, Valley View's run in the Class 5A girls state basketball tournament will continue.
Valley View made seven three-pointers and never trailed in a 51-41 victory over Alma on Wednesday at Panther Arena.
Valley View (13-17) earned an appearance in the quarterfinals against 5A-Central champion Little Rock Parkview at 7 p.m. today.
Lady Blazers Coach Tim Hawkins saw his team defeat Greene County Tech as a No. 5 seed in last week's 5A-East Conference tournament. Valley View then defeated Paragould in the third-place game to earn the East's No. 3 seed in the state tournament.
"And now we're in the elite eight," Hawkins said. "There are only eight teams left and we're going to be one of them."
Rachael Wilson made 3 three-pointers and finished with a game-high 21 points for the Lady Blazers. Reagan Dodd finished with 15 points, while Molly Poe added nine points, including two three-pointers.
Valley View jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the first four minutes on four three-pointers, with Dodd, Wilson, Poe and Riley Fischbacher making one apiece. The Lady Blazers led 19-13 at the end of the first quarter.
Poe's three-pointer with 30 seconds left before halftime gave Valley View a 30-18 lead.
"We can hit some threes," Hawkins said. "Usually we don't hit five in a row. That got us going. That relaxed us."
Alma's Tatum Willhite hit a three-pointer early in the third quarter to pull Alma (13-16) within 34-21. But the Lady Blazers went into the fourth quarter with a 38-27 advantage.
The Lady Blazers led by at least 14 points on three occasions in the fourth quarter to pull away from the Airedales.
Sierra Bailey led Alma with 12 points.
Valley View's first-half success from three-point range was too much for Alma to handle, Coach Codey Mann said.
"We watched a lot of film on them," Mann said. "We knew we were going to have trouble stopping their post [Dodd]. We had to apply as much pressure as possible to try to eliminate her, but when they started making shots, we had to go out of our gameplan a little bit. They did a great job."
Today, the Lady Blazers play one of Class 5A's top teams in Parkview. The Lady Patriots defeated De Queen 65-47 on Tuesday in a first-round game.
"We've got less than 24 hours to get ready for Parkview," Hawkins said. "It will be a different challenge. But the kids played a good ballgame today. They executed."
HARRISON 56, PARAGOULD 36
Brylie Parker scored 23 points to lead Harrison (18-6) past Paragould (18-13).
Alicia Auman and Briley Due each had nine points. McKenzie Glenn added eight points.
Paragould was within 26-22 with 3:00 left in the first half, but Harrison used a 9-2 run to extend its lead to 35-24 at halftime. The Lady Goblins led 49-30 at the end of the third quarter.
Hannah Beasley led the Lady Rams with nine points.
FARMINGTON 60, BATESVILLE 55
Makenna Vanzant's three-point play with 1:47 left gave Farmington a one-point lead and the Lady Cardinals (23-6) held on to eliminate Batesville (25-6).
Vanzant's basket and ensuing free throw put the Lady Cardinals ahead 56-55. With 17.5 seconds left, Vanzant made two free throws to extend Farmington's lead to 58-55. After a Batesville turnover, Camryn Journagan's layup with seven seconds remaining sealed the victory.
Farmington will play Hot Springs in a quarterfinal game at 1 p.m. Friday.
Madisyn Pense led Farmington with 20 points. Journagan and Vanzant each had 12 points.
Taylor Griffin scored 18 points to lead Batesville, the No. 2 seed from the 5A-East Conference. Hannah Qualls poured in 14 points.
Sports on 03/02/2017