Wynne piling up wins after rough start
J.D. Parker couldn’t get his full team in a gym for nearly 10 months.
Between covid-19 shutdowns and a football season that didn’t wrap until the first weekend of December, Wynne began its 2020-21 campaign with plenty of rust — and it showed. They lost seven in a row, albeit with multiple narrow defeats, and didn’t get in the win column until Dec. 22.
On Tuesday night, the Yellowjackets escaped Little Rock with a victory despite an inefficient performance in a sign that Parker’s squad might be hitting its peak.
Wynne hung on for a 40-37 win against eStem at Arkansas School for the Deaf, taking control with a 15-4 outburst in the opening minutes of the third quarter after the two teams scuffled to a 13-13 opening half. Seniors O.J. Marrs and Kyjuan Gibbs each dropped 10 points for the Yellowjackets. Mets forward Jacquorria Harris led all scorers with 12 points and added seven rebounds.
Although a 5-of-17 night at the free-throw line nearly cost Wynne in the waning moments, the Yellowjackets were plenty happy to celebrate their seventh win in eight games.
“The biggest thing is we just have to keep jelling,” Parker said. “[Tonight was] far from our best game, and we’ve got to play better than that if we’re going to do what we’d like to do. … Both teams came out pretty good defensively, and we had to figure out how to score.”
For as good defensively as both teams were in the first half, neither team did itself any favors as turnovers were aplenty and the two sides combined to shoot 11 of 33 from the field in addition to making just 2 of 11 at the freethrow line.
Marrs brought life after halftime to the Yellowjackets. He opened the half threepoint play before turning a defensive stop into an alley-oop a few minutes later.
That was part of an 8-0 run, pushing Wynne (7-8, 2-1 4A-5) to an 11-point lead, its largest of the night.
“Talking in the locker room really [got us going],” Marrs said. “We have to communicate. Coach told us, the first half is gone and the second half, we just had to come back harder.”
The Mets (9-3, 3-1), who made last year’s Class 4A state semifinals, wouldn’t go away and closed to within five points when Marrs fouled out with three minutes to play.
The deficit was whittled to 39-35 after a Harris put-back with 34.5 seconds to play.
The Mets had a final chance to push the game into overtime, down three in the final 15 seconds. Instead of setting up a three-pointer, eStem drew a foul but missed both of its free throws to settle the final margin.
The win left Parker not entirely satisfied, but the Yellowjackets coach headed home pleased that his team showed flashes of what it can do.
“That game shows we’ve got plenty of room to grow,” Parker said. “It’s nice to get a win and have room to grow because you don’t always necessarily do that.”
GIRLS ESTEM 40, WYNNE 30
EStem eased past Wynne, extending its perfect 4A-5 record to 4-0. Kiaya Davis and Adrian Robinson combined for 25 of the Lady Mets’ 40 points, with Davis dropping a game-high 15.
Leading 8-5 after the opening quarter, eStem (9-4, 4-0) took advantage of plenty of Lady Yellowjackets’ mistakes, surging to a 22-8 advantage at the break. Wynne (5-8, 3-2) trailed by double digits for the entirety of the second half.
Zahria Baker scored 14 points to go along with 17 rebounds for Wynne.