Lincoln Girls Take Second At District

WEST FORK — Lincoln brought home a second place trophy from the District 3A-1 West girls basketball tournament Saturday, dropping the title game, 57-32, to Charleston.

The Lady Wolves advance to the 3A-1 Regional, tipping off against Bergman Thursday at 4 p.m. at Mountain View High School.

Lincoln beat West Fork, 48-36, on its home court to end the regular season Friday, Feb. 8, then after a bye met the Lady Tigers in the same setting Friday, Feb. 15.

This time for a chance to play for the District 3A-1 West championship with the Lady Wolves winning 51-33.

Lincoln coach Emilianne Slammons pitched a motivational speech knowing the Lady Wolves were hungry. Slammons told her girls, “West Fork’s already 2-0 in the district tournament. You’re 0-and-0 right now. You have something to prove, and granted, you got a bye, you put yourself in a good situation, but that does not mean anything,”

Playing on its home court as tournament host, sixth seeded

West Fork defeated No. 7 Waldron, 49-43, on Monday, Feb. 11; and upset No. 3 Cedarville, 47-36, on Tuesday, Feb. 12.

Slammons didn’t want the Lady Tigers to get any fuel early carrying over momentum from their previous tournament wins so she spoke to the heart of a team yearning to go where no Lady Wolf has gone recently — into the championship game.

“This group of girls are excited to go somewhere because that senior group Jessica Goldman, Libby Calico and Averi Massey, they haven’t made it to anything. They haven’t won one game in the district tournament,” Slammons said. They knew that they needed to go 1-and-0 after tonight to prove a point that they do deserve that spot in the championship game tomorrow.”

Down the stretch Lincoln consistently found Robin Kirk, who led Lincoln with 16 points, open underneath the basket for uncontested layups. Coming out of a time-out Goldman beat West Fork’s press and made an old-fashioned 3-point play.

“We do a good job of looking at other teams and where we can point out our strong suits. We noticed at the end of the game that they weren’t guarding the post play as tough so all right get the ball inside and from there it went great,” Slammons said. “We talked to some coaches yesterday and they’re like, ‘she (Kirk) has improved so much since we’ve seen her.’ She just works on it a lot on her post play.”

Slammons liked how the team adjusted to changes in West Fork’s defense.

“Kyli Jenkins, she scored 24 points on Friday night when we played them and then tonight they faceguarded her so somebody else had to step up and shoot the ball and finish,” Slammons said. “Tania Ortiz, my point-guard, she was getting offensive rebounds the whole second quarter so she did a great job there. Everyone just pulls their own weight.”

On the low block, Goldman and Kirk took turns robbing West Fork by blocking several point-blank shots.

“Her and Robin Kirk, they both got a few blocks. I think they tried to up their block stats. It’s just kind of fun to watch them play,” Slammons said.

LINCOLN 51, WEST FORK 33

West Fork 4 6 9 14 – 33 Lincoln 9 15 10 17 – 51 West Fork (15-15): Lillian Hauser 2 1-1 6, Joei Haase-Selvidge 3 0-1 6, Hannah Johnson 1 2-2 4, Brandi Smith 2 0-0 4, Brylee Kutz 2 0-0 4, Kaitlyn Pope 1 0-0 3, Savannah White 1 0-0 2, Emma Neyman 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 3-4 33.

Lincoln (21-5): Robin Kirk 7 2-2 16, Averi Massey 5 1-2 13, Jessica Goldman 3 6-8 12, Kyli Jenkins 2 1-1 5, Tania Ortiz 2 0-0 4, Arianna Ortiz 0 1-2 1. Totals 19 11-15 51. 3-Point Goals — West Fork 2 (Hauser, Pope). Lincoln 2 (Massey 2).

CHARLESTON 57, LINCOLN 32

Senior Libby Calico came out smoking, hitting a trio of 3-pointers. Goldman scored twice and Jenkins nailed a trey as Lincoln jumped out to an 18-15 first quarter lead in the District 3A-1 West championship against Charleston Saturday. The Lady Wolves went ice cold once Charleston switched to a man-to-man and managed just 14 points the rest of the way losing 57-32 to place second.

CHARLESTON 57, LINCOLN 32

Lincoln 18 0 7 7 — 32 Charleston 15 7 19 16 — 57 Lincoln (23-6, 12-3): Libby Calico 9, Jessica Goldman 9, Kyli Jenkins 5, Tania Ortiz 4, Robin Kirk 4, Arinna Ortiz 1

Charleston (24-1, 15-0): Allie Green 19, Payton Rucker 9, Alexis Grandison 8, Baylee King 6, Raegan Oldridge 5, Brooke Groen 4, Merechka 2, Susanna Adams 2, Reagan Stubblefield 2

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER The Lincoln girls basketball team flanked by assistant coach Michelle Lumsargis (left) and head coach Emilianne Slammons (right) pose with the second place trophy from the 2019 3A-1 West District girls basketball tournament held at West Fork. Lincoln tips off Regional action on Thursday at 4 p.m. against Bergman at Mountain View High School.