Future shines bright now for West Memphis

PEARCY — Aryah Hazley was missing from the Class 6A girls state basketball tournament program, but the 5-4 freshman from West Memphis could not be missed on the court.

Hazley finished with 29 points, including 6 of 6 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, as the Lady Blue Devils held off Greenwood 5246 in Wednesday’s first-round action at Lake Hamilton High School’s Wolf Arena.

“She’s our future,” West Memphis Coach Sheila Burns said. “We haven’t seen a guard like her in many years. We used to be loaded with guards, but we’ve dried up. But she’s coming out, and she’s going to be a dandy.”

West Memphis advances to today’s quarterfinals against Sheridan.

Hazley scored 12 points in the first half to help the Lady Devils (12-14) take a 19-15 lead into the locker room. Her 17 second-half points included 2 three-pointers and 8 of 8 free-throw shooting. She also collected six rebounds.

“She is our steering wheel,” Burns said. “She can drive. She can dish. She can hit the three. She just has so much control. And she’s so smart. She knows when people are open.”

Senior Paris Perkins scored all 12 of her points in the second half as West Memphis led by as much as 34-20 in the third quarter.

Greenwood (15-16) rallied in the second half behind senior Sara Reeves, who scored nine of her team-high 11 points in the final two quarters. The Lady Bulldogs moved to within 49-46 in the final 1:13 but never got the chance to pull any closer.

Greenwood hit 2 of its first 3 three-point attempts, but finished 3 of 17 from beyond the arc. The Lady Dogs were 14 of 48 from the floor and 13 of 26 from the free-throw line.

“They were a little bit bigger than us, and they were a little bit more physical than us on the inside,” Greenwood Coach Clay Reeves said. “That’s usually where we go first. It’s been our strength all year. They were one of the few teams we’ve played this year that were able to take that away from us. We knew we were going to have to shoot. We got open shots, and we just had to hit them.”

Greenwood sophomore Kyiah Julian added nine points and six rebounds.

West Memphis enjoyed a 43-28 rebounding advantage, including a 15-10 edge on the offensive end. Senior Ty Bullins led the Lady Devils with 11 rebounds.

EL DORADO 57, LITTLE ROCK HALL 34

Senior forward MeKaylan Hicks scored 16 of her 20 points in the first half as the Lady Wildcats defeated the Lady Warriors.

El Dorado (20-8) scored the game’s first 13 points. Hall clawed to within 1712 early in the second quarter, but by halftime, El Dorado had expanded its lead to 27-17.

Senior center Jada Wainright added 10 points for El Dorado, which hit 20 of 35 free-throw attempts.

Junior guard Amber Brooks scored 10 points for Hall (6-21) while sophomore guard Allexis Adams added eight.

RUSSELLVILLE 50, SEARCY 33

Senior Emily Posey scored a gamehigh 17 points to go along with five rebounds as the Lady Cyclones (16-14) defeated the Lady Lions (10-20).

Senior Abbie Looper scored 12 of her 15 points in the first half as Russellville built a 21-14 halftime advantage. The Lady Cyclones hit 14 of 46 shots from the floor and 17 of 25 shots from the free-throw line. Searcy was 11 of 37 from the floor and 8 of 12 from the line.

Senior Allie Brown led Searcy with 14 points and junior Kortni Vanwinkle brought down 10 rebounds.