Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Much happier result
Mountain View makes most of return trip
HOT SPRINGS — Saturday was a happier state championship game day for the Mountain View Lady Yellow Jackets.
The Lady Yellow Jackets, who lost last year’s Class 3A girls state championship game one year ago to the day, defeated the Atkins Lady Red Devils 59-48 in front of 4,251 at Bank OZK Arena.
Mountain View fell 67-59 on March 9, 2018, to Charleston in the 3A title game.
A year later, the Yellow Jackets were able to win their second state title overall and first since 2011 thanks to the guard duo of Kaley Shipman and Aubrey Isbell, who combined for 45 of the team’s 59 points.
“It’s a relief,” Mountain View Coach Casey Scribner said. “But it [the loss to Charleston] brought us close last year. Losing that game was such a gut punch. Then, to regain our composure to put in 12 months of work to get back here, you can’t say anything else about the kids.”
Isbell, a sophomore, led the Lady Yellow Jackets with 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting and grabbed 7 rebounds.
“This is such a dream come true,” Isbell said. “I’m so thankful for having Coach [Scribner] and Kaley and my team by my side because they’re my family.”
Shipman, a senior, finished with 21 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals.
“She’s a great player,” Atkins Coach Wesley Kuhn said of Shipman, who earned MVP honors. “She’s a great leader on the floor. She’s tough to guard.”
Mountain View (29-5) shot 47.8 percent (22 of 46) from the floor and outrebounded Atkins 29-28.
Sophomore guard Lindsey Cox led the Lady Red Devils, who shot 36.8 percent (14 of 38), with 13 points. Classmate Emily Killer had 10 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Also, Ashton Dillard, a sophomore, grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds.
Mountain View led 28-25 at halftime.
Killer made a three-pointer with 6:01 left in the third quarter to pull Atkins within 32-31. But the Lady Red Devils would not make another field goal for the rest of the quarter and had two turnovers, as the Lady Yellow Jackets extended their lead to 43-36 entering the fourth quarter.
“Teams like that, you can’t go through stretches without scoring,” Kuhn said. “You have to take advantage on offense. We didn’t take advantage where we needed to.
“Those key moments are huge in a game like this.”
Senior forward Tori Pack broke the Lady Red Devils’ seven-minute field goal drought with a three-pointer to cut the lead to 45-39 with 7:01 remaining.
Mountain View’s largest lead was 59-46 with 47 seconds left. Isbell (8 points) and Shipman (6 points) scored 14 of the Lady Yellow Jackets’ 16 points in the fourth quarter to help their team pull away.
The Lady Red Devils led 16-14 at the end of the first quarter. But the Lady Yellow Jackets went on a 10-2 run to take a 26-18 lead with 3:06 left in the second quarter.
Isbell began the run with a layup that gave Mountain View an 18-16 lead. Junior guard Avery Decker hit a three-pointer to extend the advantage to 23-18 with 3:39 left in the first half. With 3:06 remaining in the second quarter, Shipman completed a three-point play for a 26-18 Mountain View lead.
Cox scored at the buzzer before halftime to cut the deficit to 28-25.
Atkins finished 27-7 a year after finishing 4-24. Despite Saturday’s loss, the 2018-19 season was one to remember for Kuhn, who credited his sophomore class for boosting the Lady Red Devils.
“I didn’t have the depth that I do this year,” Kuhn said. “I knew that our sophomores were good. I didn’t know that they were going to come in and do what they did this year. I think that’s what really pushed our seniors, finally, into the playing the game they wanted to play.”