Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Jonesboro Westside cruises while Felts fills up stat sheet
JONESBORO WESTSIDE 71, ESTEM 55
LONOKE — A hot start by the eStem Mets was overwhelmed by Avery Felts and the Jonesboro Westside Warriors.
Felts, a 6-2 junior guard, scored 33 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, handed out 9 assists and made 5 steals in Westside’s 71-55 come-frombehind victory over the Mets in Wednesday’s action in the 4A-East Region tournament at the Gina Cox Center.
Westside (22-5) advances to Friday’s semifinals to play either Southside Batesville or Gosnell.
The Mets hit 6 of 7 threepoint attempts in the first quarter and held as much as a 30-21 lead in the second quarter, but the Warriors fired back, taking the lead for good on Avery’s short jumper with 1:10 remaining in the third quarter.
Felts, who also connected on 15 of 18 free-throw attempts, came into Wednesday’s game averaging 25.3 points a game.
“I felt like all of our guys came out with some intensity in the second half, but Avery stepped it up tonight and he played very well,” Westside Coach Scott Whitmire said. “I’ve seen him do that this year, and he did a great job for us. We needed him to because eStem is a good team.”
“He’s big time,” eStem Coach Josh Hayes said. “And he’s just a junior. He can play above the rim. He can do it all.
“We actually gave him some problems but all we got for that was foul trouble. After that we couldn’t turn him anymore, and he did a good job of getting to the rim.”
The Mets (21-13) rode senior guard Peyton Sewell’s shooting to an early advantage. Sewell, who hit four three-pointers in the first quarter, finished with 20 points, but he scored only five points in the second half.
“I was hoping they wouldn’t continue shooting that well,” Whitmire said. “But the main thing is that we kept battling. Avery kept us in the game even though they had the hot start. We were only down four heading into the second half, so we knew we had a chance.”
After going 8 of 14 from the floor in the first quarter, the Mets finished 21 of 57, including an 8-of-30 performance on three-pointers. Westside was 22-of-48 shooting, including 3 of 12 from three-point range.
Sophomore Riley Felkins and junior Dylan Schwarz each added 10 points for Westside.
Junior Jacob Profit scored 12 of his 13 points in the first half for eStem. Sophomore Jacob Sanders scored 10 of his 15 points in the third quarter, helping the Mets maintain an advantage until the final nine minutes.
GIRLS
LONOKE 47, BROOKLAND 41
Senior guard Keiunna Walker scored 11 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter as the fourth-seeded Lady Rabbits (239) knocked off the Lady Bearcats (21-7).
Lonoke never trailed, and Brookland was never any closer than three points in the final quarter and never had possession with a chance to tie the game.
Senior Mickenzie Williams added 15 points and had five steals for Lonoke.
Brookland junior Kalifa Ford led her team with 18 points while Hannah Lovrien scored 11. Mallorie Lovrien grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.
Lonoke won despite being held to one offensive rebound and losing the overall rebounding battle 26-18.
CENT. ARK. CHRISTIAN 60, GOSNELL 22
Christyn Williams scored all 16 of her points in the first half as the Lady Mustangs cruised to an early victory over the Lady Pirates in a game that was delayed 20 minutes because of a power outage.
The game was only 46 seconds old when the Gina Cox Center went dark. Gosnell (14-13) was as close as 9-7 four minutes into the contest, but CAC (31-1) scored 34 of the next 39 points to take a 43-12 lead at the half.
Freshman Bethany Dillard scored all 15 of her points in the first half for CAC, and junior Madyson Bowman added 11. Junior Kaylee Miller’s nine points led Gosnell.