Teams compete for district championships.
FORDYCE – Spring Hill scored the first 17 points of the game in Friday's 8-2A District Tournament girls final against top-seeded Junction City. The Lady Dragons fought their way back into the game but never climbed over the hump, falling 62-51.
The loss snapped a 16-game winning streak for Junction City (16-4), which will be the No. 2 seed in next week's regional tournament. The Lady Bears improved to 20-4-1 and avenged two regular-season losses to the Lady Dragons.
After the game, Junction City coach Henry Harrell was perplexed by his team's slow start.
“I don't know if it was because we had beat them twice and we thought we could just come out here and play,” said Harrell. “I think they took our guard play away from us and made other people dribble the ball up the floor. Even though we're capable of handling the ball, we didn't do a very good job.”
“Defense, we slowed some of 'em down that had been scoring quite a bit on us. I have to give credit to the defense,” said Spring Hill coach Roy Whatley. “It's hard to beat somebody three times in a row. The first two times, it was a total of seven points difference in the two games. The girls had something to work for. It's good to be the underdog.”
Senior Katie Rivera opened the game on fire, hitting two 3-pointers and scoring eight points in the first five minutes. Marta Gomez also drained a 3-pointer in Spring Hill's 17-0 run to start the game.
The Lady Dragons answered with 11 consecutive points, sparked by Taykeetria Rogers. Jada Archie got Junction City on the board with a three-point play with 1:55 left in the first. Rogers hit a pair of free throws, a 3-pointer and scored on a drive to trim the deficit to 17-11.
But, Spring Hill stretched it back out with an 12-0 run of its own. Jada Quillin had two 3-pointers and Rivera added three baskets to push the lead to 35-17 with 2:07 left in the second. The Lady Dragons trailed 36-20 at the half after a pair of free throws by Olivia Creager.
The Lady Bears' lead grew to as large as 45-22 midway in the third.
Junction City came back again, this time with a 13-0 run. Archie hit a 3-pointer with Rogers and Keyanna Ross hitting two buckets apiece as the Lady Dragons cut the lead to 47-41 with 5:14 left in the game.
But, Quillin turned a steal into a lay-up before Lexie Chambless scored under the basket on an offensive rebound for Spring Hill. Junction City pulled to within eight on Archie's bucket with 3:03 left before the Lady Bears sealed it up with five points at the line.
Junction City got as close as 58-51 with 38 ticks on the clock. Rivera hit two free throws, though, and the Lady Dragons finally ran out of time.
“Two great teams, I'm proud of my girls,” said Whatley. “We let them get back into the game after a 20-point lead. I don't know what happened there. It could be that Junction City stepped it up. There's some athletes out there. (Raye and Rogers) are quick and (Archie) is pretty consistent, too.”
Rivera led Spring Hill with 17 points. Gomez and Quillin added nine apiece. But, Chambless, who didn't play in the previous matchup at Junction City, started in the paint and finished with 10 points.
“I think (Chambless) surprised us,” said Harrell. “She probably had 10 points just off that one play they ran. She surprised us.”
Rogers led Junction City with 16 points. Bryanna Raye scored 12 with five steals. Archie added 11 with Ross scoring eight with eight rebounds.
“Turnovers were the key tonight,” said Harrell. “It was nothing they did. We just didn't handle the ball very well tonight. Give them credit. They put pressure on our guards. We turned it over way too many times.
“It's a tough loss but we'll bounce back and get ready for Thursday.”