Greenbrier guard fills stat sheet

Kory Westerman is no stranger to high-scoring games, and her 30-point effort Tuesday night has the Greenbrier Lady Panthers tied for the 5A-West Conference lead.

Westerman, a 5-8 senior point guard, scored 30 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, made 4 steals and handed out 4 assists in a 63-61 victory at Little Rock Christian to run the Lady Panthers’ league record to 2-0.

“She’s very aggressive,” Greenbrier Coach Toby McCammon said. “She’s comfortable with the ball and has a knack for making good things happen.”

Westerman, who is committed to play college basketball at Southern Arkansas, hit seven of the Lady Panthers’ 10 threepointers against Little Rock Christian. She scored 33 points earlier this year in a victory over Pottsville.

“She scores when she needs to,” McCammon said. “She does a good job of running the team. She’s always a threat. Usually other teams design a game plan to stop her, and she’s had to fight through some of that. She’s a mentally tough kid who plays hard and competes at a high level.”

Greenbrier (7-8) hit 11 of 26 free-throw attempts Tuesday, but four consecutive free throws by junior guard Hollan Donham in the final 25 seconds helped keep Greenbrier on top. Donham and senior forward Ali Skudlark each finished with nine points for the Lady Panthers.

Greenbrier and Vilonia share the conference lead, but with 12 league games remaining, there appears to be no runaway favorite.

“Any win in this league is huge, and any win anywhere is big,” McCammon said. “This [race] is going to be a long grind. You could throw our entire league into a hat, pick them out and who knows. It’s competitive, and I think it’s going to go down to the last night.”