Mayflower sinks Lady Lions, 55- 52
JESSIEVILLE — Mayflower forward LonJonae Wyatt hurt the Jessieville Lady Lions shooting and, in the end, passing to an open teammate.
Wyatt found Reagan Bartlett open in the right corner for a three- point basket with two seconds left that beat Jessieville 55- 52 Friday night in their regularseason finale.
Wyatt scored 30 points but was “completely unselfish,” Mayflower coach Lacey Frost said. “She had confidence in her teammates. She even said
in the locker room that Reagan was going to make it when she passed it to her. I couldn’t be any more proud of my team tonight.”
Mayflower’s senior boys fought off a fourth- quarter Jessieville rally for a 64- 57 victory.
Mayflower’s girls, 8- 6 in Class 3A- 5, went on a 13- 3 run in the last 3 1/ 2 minutes. After freshman Kellie Lampo’s free throw gave Jessieville ( 16- 7, 104) a 49- 41 lead at 3: 34, Mayflower went on an 8- 0 run, Wyatt’s runner with 1: 19 left putting her team up 50- 49 and her two free throws answering an inside jumper by Lampo.
“She fought down the stretch, she really did,” Jessieville coach Matt Carter said. “We had a couple of others that fought, too, but it doesn’t matter how hard they play. It’s the mental approach we took into the game tonight. We could play as hard as we want, but if we’re not focused on it from the beginning, we’re not going to win very many games.”
Carter bemoaned his team’s 12 second- half turnovers, saying “the key to losing that ballgame was our attitude and our focus. Our mentality is not right. That’s not how we lose ballgames. We had poor focus, poor mentality and poor approach to playing the game.”
Mayflower trailed 18- 9 before scoring nine straight, Jessieville leading 24- 21 at halftime. Mayflower led 33- 31 after a 12- 2 surge.
“They really proved to me and to everybody tonight just how mentally tough they can be,” Frost said. “We couldn’t have had a bigger win heading into the district tournament than tonight.”
Justice Reliford led the Lady Lions with 19 points. Lampo finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Bartlett finished with 11 points, Tierra Lasker adding 10 points. Despite the result, Mayflower still enters Tuesday’s 3A- 5 district tournament at Episcopal Collegiate as the No. 5 seed, playing the host team.
Jessieville still has the league’s second seed and an automatic berth into the Region 2 tournament at Benton Harmony Grove. The Lady Lions return to action in the district semifinals. Mayflower; 9 12 16 18 — 55 Jessieville; 18 6 15 13 — 52 Mayflower: Wyatt 30, Bartlett 11, Lasker 10, Hampton 2, Webb 2.
Jessieville: Reliford 19, Lampo 15, Rhodes 8, Garrett 6, Hair 4. Senior boys Hayden Long led Mayflower’s boys with 21 points, J. P. Perry adding 13. Mayflower led by 17 multiple times abefore Jessieville trimmed it to three twice in the final 33 seconds.
Steven Benson led the Lions with a career- high 20 points. Hunter Daley recorded 17 points and Rueben DeHaas 15.
Mayflower had the league’s No. 2 playoff seed regardless of the outcome. Jessieville settled for the No. 5 seed, playing the eighth seed, either Perryville or Fountain Lake, at 8 p. m. Tuesday.