Lady Devils win without key players

5A-EAST GIRLS

WEST MEMPHIS 68, PARAGOULD 65, 2OT

WEST MEMPHIS — Playing without their top rebounder and second-leading scorer for 35 minutes and their top scorer and playmaker for the final 3:38 Friday night, the West Memphis Lady Blue Devils willed their way to a 68-65 double overtime victory over Paragould in 5A-East Conference play.

Junior center Clemisha Prackett was ejected at the 3:38 mark of the first quarter for a flagrant 1 foul and junior point guard Janiyah Tucker fouled out with 3:38 to play in the second overtime, but the Lady Devils (16-7, 9-3) got some clutch play from sophomore Aniya Price, who scored 5 of her game-high 26 points in the final 1:48 of the second overtime.

“That was the win of the year for us,” West Memphis Coach Erica Leak said. “It was just a matter of us believing and then willing it to happen on offense when we had very few options left.”

Regulation ended tied 4848 and it was a two-possession game in favor of Paragould (14-6, 7-5) with the score 5854 in the first extra period. But West Memphis sophomore Aliayah Price stole a ball in the backcourt and turned it into a basket on the other end. Then, Tucker, who scored 24 points, stole another ball and converted on the other end to send the game into a second overtime.

Tucker fouled out in the first 22 seconds of the second overtime, which forced Leak to play Aniya Price at point guard, a position she hasn’t played this season.

She split a pair of free throws to open the second overtime and then made three more and by the 2:44 mark the Lady Devils were up 62-58.

Paragould tied it, however, with 1:56 to play.

The deciding play came from Aniya Price, who drove through traffic and made an off-balance layup. West Memphis then held the Lady Rams scoreless the rest of the way to hold on.

Tyra Taylor added 7 points for West Memphis while Alaiyah Price had 5.

Paragould’s top scorer was Keimauri Brown, who had 17 while Shakira Brown added 15 and Hayden Defries 13.

BOYS

WEST MEMPHIS 63, PARAGOULD 51

The Blue Devils survived six consecutive missed free throws in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, and recorded a victory over Paragould.

The Blue Devils (15-9, 7-5) trailed 29-25 in the third quarter, but rallied to take a 40-35 lead heading into the fourth quarter, whereupon their free-throw shooting went south.

Nursing a 54-48 lead with 2:28 to play, West Memphis’ best free throw shooter, senior point guard D.J. Barrett missed four in a row which could have iced the game.

However, West Memphis sophomore Ronnie Townsend, in only his third varsity game, made two free throws with 56 seconds to play to give the Blue Devils a 58-50 advantage and enough cushion to hold off the Rams (12-13, 3-9).

Paragould used a 9-0 run to end the first half to take a 25-23 lead at halftime.

But the Blue Devils got two big three-pointers from junior Max Reece in the third quarter to give the hosts control of the game.

“We had to rely on some of our younger kids tonight because it was our third game of the week and some of our veterans’ legs were a little tired,” West Memphis Coach Irving Clay said. “I thought the young guys did a good job for the most part, but we still had some trouble handling the ball. We had too many turnovers in the backcourt.”

Senior forward Kam Barnes of West Memphis led all scorers with 16 points while junior Kobe Williams, in his second start of the season, pumped in15. West Memphis also got 10 points from junior guard Johnny Washington and 9 from Barrett.

Ashton Oakes paced Paragould with 14 points while Isaiah Jackson added 12 and Jamison Devault scored 10.