Lady Cats nip Barton to win tourney
El Dorado captured the championship Saturday in the El Dorado Freshman Basketball Tournament. The Lady Wildcats beat Barton's eighth grade, 46-39, in the finals at Wildcat Arena after knocking off Magnolia 31-24 in the morning semifinal.
"I’m very proud of the girls. They fought very hard today and won two hard fought battles against Magnolia and the 8th grade team. We got down early in both of those games but the girls just kept working and found a way to get it done," said El Dorado coach John Koonce."
Carshaila Rozier scored 14 points in the semifinal victory over Magnolia. Kalese Moseby and Katie Lee contributed nine and six points, respectively.
"Magnolia was a big athletic team and we knew that we were going to have to play very solid defense to pull it off," Koonce said. "We were able to turn them over a lot of score in transition. We knew we would have to going into this game because it was going to be a challenge to score on their bigs in the half court game. Carshaila had a monster game. She was the X factor that pushed us over the top in this one.
"Katie Lee played a huge role defensively in pushing us to the win. I challenged her to shut down their star guard and she rose to that challenge."
The Lady Wildkittens presented a different challenge in the championship game. Barton grabbed an early 9-6 lead after one quarter before El Dorado carried a 23-19 lead into the half. The lead was 34-27 going into the fourth quarter.
Braylee Johnson led El Dorado with 13 points. Moseby and Rozier chipped in with 12 and six, respectively.
"It was a completely different ballgame in the championship game," said Koonce. "Both teams stayed in foul trouble most of the game and I have to give a ton of credit to our two guards, Braylee and Kalese, for dictating the pace of the game and getting to the rim. Justice Larry and Kyra Harris also played a huge role in rebounding. They pushed us over the top in a game where our legs were dead from that morning game. When you look at what we ended up with in the finals game, El Dorado vs. El Dorado, you have to believe the future is bright for the Lady Cats program."
Charalyn Rester led Barton with 13 points with Lauren Lockhart adding 11. Lauren Nelson contributed eight.