Lady Dragons ready for Greenland
EL DORADO - Junction City’s Lady Dragons ended a drought that lasted two decades when they qualified for the 3A State Tournament last week. Now that the drought is over, are they still thirsty?
The Lady Dragons open state tournament play in Bald Knob tonight when they face Greenland at 7. The Lady Pirates bring a 24-6 record into the game after finishing third in Region 1.
Greenland beat Charleston 61-44 in the third place game last Saturday after losing to Jessieville 63-59 in the regional semifinals.
“They’ve got a couple big girls, about 5-10 to 5-8. They’ll try to pound it inside and they can shoot it from the outside pretty good,” said Junction City coach Henry Harrell. “Their guards aren’t that
big but they shoot it very well. They play man and a little bit of 2-3 zone. We’ll have our hands full with them but we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
It’s a challenge that grew last week when senior guard Jyrezhia Nathan became the third Lady Dragons to suffer an ACL injury. That included another starting guard in Taykeetria Rogers, who was injured a couple weeks before the district tournament.
Nathan’s loss is particularly devastating as she’s Junction City’s primary perimeter scorer.
“We’re going to make it up by committee,” said Harrell. “The fill-ins have to come in and do the best they can. Yeah, it’s a big loss but we feel we’ll still be able to compete.”
Freshman Breanna Ray could see a bigger role.
Junction City (22-4) earned the No. 2 seed from the Region 4. The Lady Dragons fell to Prescott 43-28 in the final after qualifying for the regional tournament earlier. Harrell said his team did not suffer a letdown in the title game.
“I don’t think it was a letdown. It was a relief when we won that first game,” he said.
“Then we talked about let’s just go ahead and play because we had accomplished one of our goals, which was to make it to state. I thought against Prescott, we got in foul trouble. When (Nikayla) Fisher got into foul trouble, they kind of pressed us then. Up until that point, they didn’t press us. They got that 6-or-8 point run on us. When she fouled out, we were hurting then. That was a big loss because we had no ball handlers.”
Prescott’s pressure hurt the Lady Dragons but, despite Nathan’s injury, Harrell believes his team will be OK in that department.
“When we tried to dribble it up the floor and dribbled into their traps, that’s when we got into trouble,” he said. “We’ve been working on that this week to eliminate some of the pressure. I think we’ll be fine in that aspect of it.
“The key is for us to make some outside shots. Shutting down their inside game is a key. They try to get to the foul line. They shoot free throws very well. Overall, I think the key will be how well we play defense on them.”
After going undefeated as freshmen in junior high, the senior Lady Dragons are making their first trip to the state tournament. Harrell is hopeful it won’t be an overwhelming experience.
“The kids are excited about it. First time in in 20 years and they’re really excited about it,” he said. “I told them, they weren’t even born the last time Junction played in the state tournament. It’s an opportunity for them to make history. They’re looking forward to it. It’s a fun trip but we also want to take care of business as well.
“I think if we can get by that first game, we’ll be able to relax and go from there. We’ll take it one game at a time. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to go and play and do our best.”