Lady Eagles soar
Senior center Kamiah Turner contributed 17 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists to lead Mayflower (25-5) to a spot in Friday’s Class 3A state girls championship game with a 6349 victory over Bergman (37-2) at Clinton. Fellow senior Brekayla Davis scored 14 of her 15 points in the second half, after going 0 of 5 from the field in the first half, as the Lady Eagles (25-5) rallied from a five-point deficit midway in the third quarter.
CLINTON — Senior center Kamiah Turner contributed 17 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists Monday morning to lead Mayflower to a spot in Friday’s Class 3A state girls championship game.
Turner, a 5-11 senior, also pitched in as teammate counselor in her team’s 63-49 victory over Bergman (37-2) at Yellowjacket Arena.
Fellow senior Brekayla Davis was the teammate who needed a pep talk, and Turner went over to her at halftime and tried to lift her spirits.
“In the locker room, Brekayla had her head down,” Turner said. “I lifted her head up and said, ‘We’re still here. We’re up one. She just came alive after that.”
Davis scored 14 of her 15 points in the second half — after going 0 of 5 from the field in the first half — and was the catalyst as the Lady Eagles (25-5) rallied from a five-point deficit midway in the third quarter.
Mayflower Coach Coty Storms said he did much the same after Davis struggled in a first-round victory over Elkins on March 8.
“I challenged her after the first one,” Storms said. “If shots aren’t falling, impact the game in some way.”
Davis did it by making drives to the basket with Bergman’s defense floating out on Turner and point guard Jenna McMillen.
Davis was especially effective in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 of her team’s 20 points on three baskets and four free throws.
Bergman Coach James Halitzka said it was Davis who made the difference.
“She played beyond what she normally does,” Halitzka said of Davis. “Made some big shots, had some big rebounds. She played well.”
Turner, Davis and and McMillen combined for 46 of Mayflower’s points, and the Lady Eagles needed all the points they could muster after Bergman hit its first four shots of the second half, including 3 three-point baskets. Bergman took a 35-30 lead, and Storms called timeout with 5:28 to play in the quarter.
“Just had to get us calmed down,” Storms said. “Get back to what we prepped for.”
Turner converted a threepoint play and Davis scored off a rebound to tie it at 3535. Mayflower scored the final four points of the quarter to lead 43-39.
“I knew they hadn’t faced a whole lot of adversity,” Storms said of Bergman, which had a 31-game winning streak come to an end. “I knew in the state tournaments they’ve been killing everybody in the third quarter.
“We knew we had to weather some storms. Good teams are going to go on runs, and fortunately we went on the last one today.”
Halitzka said his team was in a difficult position once it fell behind, something it had not done often.
“It’s hard to not lose, and when you’re on a 31-game win streak, eventually you’re going to have a bad game,” he said, “and when you do have a bad game, everything else has to fall perfect.”
Bergman had moments of excellence in each half.
Mayflower led 11-5 midway through the first quarter, but Bergman finished the quarter outscoring Mayflower 10-2 to lead 15-13, then outscored Mayflower 12-6 at the outset of the third quarter.
Kara Ponder led Bergman with 11 points, Maddi Holt scored 10 and Kessa Willis had 9. The Lady Panthers hit six three-pointers, but none after going up 35-30.
Getting the lead over a team that had won 35 games by 10 or more points was important.
“They’re known for their three-pointers, and when those weren’t falling, they had to look for other ways to score,” Turner said. “We knew they were good. We didn’t let that get in our heads. They had a target on their backs. We were coming for them.”
CENTERPOINT 49, VALLEY SPRINGS 45
Sophomore guard Marlee Bright scored 14 of her 18 points in the second half, including 10 of 12 from the free-throw line, to lead Centerpoint (245) over Valley Springs and into Friday afternoon’s state championship game against Mayflower.
Centerpoint, the top seed out of Region 4, led 10-5 after one quarter, 23-15 at the half and 36-26 heading into the fourth quarter.
Valley Springs (27-9) hit five threepoint baskets in the fourth quarter and closed to within 36-32 with 5:47 to play on consecutive three-pointers by Whitney Coffelt, but never could get closer than four points.
Coffelt scored 17 to lead Valley Springs, with 15 points coming on three-point baskets.
Senior center Emily Balliette scored 14 for Centerpoint, 10 in the second half. Junior guard Monika Flores had nine of her 11 in the first half.
Senior guard Maura Moore scored 14 for Valley Springs.