Melbourne cruises after a rough first
MELBOURNE 68, DES ARC 54
QUITMAN — Melbourne’s Lady Bearkatz, as expected, have positioned themselves to win a second consecutive Class 2A girls championship.
The second-to-last step came Saturday at Quitman High School, when Melbourne, the state’s top-ranked team in its classification, advanced to the final in Hot Springs with a 68-54 victory over Des Arc.
Melbourne’s opponent will be Quitman, which defeated Earle 40-28 in Saturday’s second semifinal.
This Melbourne team may play like last year’s state champions, using full-court pressure and waves of players under Coach Eric Teague, but it appears to be doing so without any sense of entitlement.
Junior Josie Roark said the team is fueled by the pressure to do something no Melbourne has ever accomplished: Winning back-to-back state titles, but to prove that this team, led by sophomore forward Kenley McCairn and 6-2 freshman post Jenna Lawrence, is as much its own team than an extension of last season’s squad.
“We have a lot of different strengths this year, but a lot of the same strengths,” said Roark, who scored eight points Saturday. “One of the best things about our team, is when we get new people, and lose other people, it doesn’t matter because we have that same chemistry.”
Melbourne (33-2) faced one quarter of concern, trailing 15-12 after the first before turning up the pressure on defense.
“The first quarter we had our heads down a little bit,” Roark said. “But at the same time, we said, ‘wait, we’ve got a chance to do this.’ All we had to do was listen to our coach and work together. We started pressing and we started getting a lot of energy built up. We just feed off that, our offense and our defense.”
McCairn, who played more of a supporting role last season as a freshman, has blossomed into one of the state’s top players with her ability to drive to the basket and shoot from the outside.
She finished with 25 points, including 14 in the second quarter when the Lady Bearkatz outscored Des Arc 23 -12 to take a 35-27 halftime lead.
“They’re state champs for a reason,” Des Arc Coach Ryan Smith said. “They’re good.”
Smith said he was pleased with Des Arc’s approach, with the exception of the second quarter when 10 turnovers led to Melbourne’s big quarter.
“I was happy with what we did,” Smith said of the Eagles, who were led by 16 points from Parker Smith and 15 points from Caroline Harris. “Other than the second quarter.”
About Melbourne’s prospects going forward, Smith said: “They’ll probably win it.”
QUITMAN 40, EARLE 28
Quitman (30-3) outscored Earle (30-7) in every quarter to grind out a victory and advance to the Class 2A girls title game against Melbourne.
Taylor Jo Hooten led Quitman with 11 points, while Lucy Holland and Halle Bennett each scored 9.
Quitman, which led 7-2 after one quarter and 20-14 at halftime, ended up scoring as many points from the free-throw line (10) as it did from the field in the second half.
Quitman made 13 of 28 free throws. Colbi Maples scored 10 points to lead Earle, which was 4 of 10 from the freethrow line and did not attempt a free throw in the second half.