Jessieville undone by fouls, free throws
PERRYVILLE — The Jessieville Lady Lions pride themselves as a defensive-minded team under first-year coach Magen Scrivner, but their aggressive style proved costly in the 3A-4 district tournament semifinal Thursday night.
Facing Lamar with a spot in the championship game on the line, the Lady Lions got into foul trouble early and never recovered. The Lady Warriors scored 22 points at the free throw line in a 43-34 win at Perryville High School.
Lamar (20-6) will face the winner of Two Rivers and Perryville’s semifinal in the championship at 7 p.m. today. Jessieville (15-12) plays the loser in the third-place game at 4 p.m. today.
“I’m not making any excuses, but I felt like we kind of had trouble adjusting to how the game was being called,” Scrivner said. “Two fouls in the first 20 seconds kind of changed how we could play.
“Overall, I thought we played one heck of a basketball game defensively. We held a team that can score more than 60 to 43 tonight. We just had to adjust to the way the game was being called.”
Trailing by as many as 10 points in the first half, the Lady Lions clawed their way back to pull within 36-32 with six minutes remaining and 38-34 with four minutes remaining.
Lamar had an answer at every turn, converting on 7 of
its last 10 attempts from the free throw line to keep the Lady Lions at bay and preserve the lead down the stretch.
“When the gap was close at the end, we had some crucial mistakes on offense,” said Scrivner. “I felt like we quit attacking at times and started settling for outside shots.”
As the Lady Warriors scored their first seven points at the charity stripe, senior Makayla Wilson provided a spark for the Lady Lions with six points in the paint and Jessieville was within 9-8 midway through the first quarter.
After trading baskets for an 11-10 advantage, Lamar closed the opening period on a 7-0 run, Lakyn Sanders with a buzzer-beating jumper to give the Lady Warriors an 18-10 lead.
Sanders finished with 11 points in the game, combining with backcourt mate Angel Wyatt for 23 of Lamar’s 43 points.
“(Sanders) is just a slasher,” Scrivner said. “She can get to the rim, she can shoot it and she’s a great player. She’s a guard that likes to play down in the post, so she’s hard to defend. We didn’t do ourselves any favors either by sending her to the line.”
Sanders and Wyatt combined for seven points in the second quarter to stretch Lamar’s lead to
25-15 before the Lady Lions came to life. Lexi Bassett and Lilliana Fehrenbacher each scored three points, Bassett with a basket from behind the arc to cap an 8-0 run that brought Jessieville within 2523 at the half.
“We never quit, and we battled back at the end of that first half,” said Scrivner. “We knew we had to close that gap before halftime to have a chance.”
As Jessieville’s Bassett, Wilson and Celestie Nasilai were sent to the bench with three personal fouls each, the Lady Warriors regained momentum in the third quarter.
Raylynn Judah scored six points in the frame, burying a 3-pointer and knocking down all three of her attempts from the foul line. Lamar outscored the Lady Lions 11-5 to take a 36-28 lead into the pivotal fourth quarter.
Wilson paced Jessieville with 11 points and Fehrenbacher had nine points. Judah finished with seven points for the Lady Warriors, all in the second half.
After the game, Scrivner emphasized the importance of moving on from the loss quickly with a No. 3 seed in next week’s 3A-1 regional tournament up for grabs today.
“The way they played today, I just had to remind them that they can compete and play with anyone, and they can beat anyone,” she said. “The next game is just as big as this one, because that will seed us for the regional tournament.”