Baptist Prep holds off late Lamar run
3A-5 GIRLS BAPTIST PREP 55, LAMAR 48
Baptist Prep’s girls built a 15-point lead late in the third quarter and were able to stave off a late rally to defeat Lamar 55-48 on Friday night in west Little Rock.
Junior Chloey-Rei Brown scored 19 points from her point guard position and sharpshooting sophomore Makensie Moore finished with 17 points to lead the Eagles. Freshman Olivia Hatcher added 10 points in the win.
“I thought Chloey did a great job tonight,” Baptist Prep Coach Chris Smith said. “She took her girl when she needed to one-on-one. That was a great team win.”
Baptist Prep got off to a quick start, taking a 13-7 lead after the first quarter. A threepoint play by Brown pushed the Eagles’ first-half lead up to 19-12 with 3:05 remaining in the second quarter, forcing a Lamar timeout.
A buzzer-beating midrange jump shot from Moore gave the Eagles a 24-15 halftime advantage. Moore had 10 points at the break, while Brown scored eight in the first 16 minutes.
Baptist Prep continued to create separation as the game moved into the second half. A three-point play from sophomore Summer O’Dell that was assisted by Brown extended the Eagles’ lead to 35-21 at the 3:16 mark of the third quarter.
The game moved to the fourth quarter with Lamar trailing 42-27. The Warriors picked up their intensity in the final quarter and were able to quickly chip away at the lead.
A three-pointer from Brooklyn Holman cut the lead down to 45-36 with 6:06 remaining. Another three-pointer, this time from junior Kaley Long, trimmed the Eagles’ advantage 45-39 with 5:03 left.
“I’ve got young kids,” Smith said on giving up the big lead. “It’s a big ballgame, so this is a great learning experience for them.”
Moore responded with a three-pointer at the 4:00 minute mark to push the lead back up 48-39. A quick 4-0 run pulled the Warriors to within five at 48-43 with just over two minutes remaining.
That would be as close as Lamar would get as the Eagles hit key free throws in the final minutes to survive the scare and emerge with the victory.
“I thought we played a lot harder and handled the pressure well,” Smith said. “A lot of times you don’t handle the moment in tough ballgames, and we did that tonight.”
Lamar was led by junior Kori Sanders, who finished with a team-high 16 points. Holman scored 11 of her 12 points in the second half.
Lamar defeated Baptist Prep 67-46 when the two teams met Dec 15. Smith has seen improvement in his squad since that loss and is proud of how his team found a way to complete the task on Friday night.
“Offensively, I think we’ve become better as a team,” Smith said. “With Chloey [Brown] and Mac [Moore] and Liv [Hatcher], they’re pretty good. I thought tonight for the most part, they handled the ball and played really well.”