West Memphis applies pressure in 2nd half

5A-EAST GIRLS WEST MEMPHIS 45, NETTLETON 39

JONESBORO — The West Memphis girls used a solid defensive effort in the second half and rallied for a 45-39 win over Nettleton.

West Memphis (9-5, 2-1 5A-East) saw Nettleton point guard Briley Pena score 18 of her team’s 25 first-half points and the Lady Blue Devils were faced with a 25-18 deficit at halftime.

But the Lady Devils went to a box-and-one defense on Pena in the second half with ninth-grader Aliyah Price playing the Raiders’ lead guard man-to-man.

It resulted in only three shot attempts and just three points for Pena in the second half.

“We knew coming in that Pena was their team,” West Memphis Coach Erica Leak said. “We just had to keep her from going off. But then she went off and we had to make an adjustment. Aliyah did an exceptional job on her in the second half.”

And it woke up the Lady Devils’ offense from the firsthalf doldrums.

Tyra Taylor, another West Memphis freshman, scored a season-high 10 points, all coming in the second half.

It was Taylor’s rebound basket with 51 seconds remaining that gave West Memphis a 43-39 lead after Nettleton cut what once was a seven-point Lady Devil lead to 41-39.

“Tyra cleaned the glass tonight,” Leak said.

The Lady Blue Devils then got two free throws from junior point guard Janiyah Tucker, who led West Memphis with 15 points, with 25 seconds left to provide just enough cushion.

Sophomore Aniyah Price added 12 points for the Lady Devils, while junior center Clemisha Prackett scored nine.

Pena led all scorers with 21 points, while teammate Diamond Kimble added 10.

BOYS

WEST MEMPHIS 43, NETTLETON 37

JONESBORO — Demetrius Barrett sank four of four from the free-throw line in the final 25 seconds to lift the Blue Devils to a 5A-East Conference victory over the Raiders.

West Memphis (10-5, 2-1) had a 3730 lead with 3:47 to play in the fourth quarter, but Nettleton cut the deficit to 39-37 after two Brandon Anderson free throws with 1:13 left.

Blue Devils Coach Irving Clay ordered his club into a spread offense and it resulted in seven free-throw attempts in the final minute. West Memphis sank six of the attempts with two of them coming from Kobe Williams for his only points.

The only errant free throw was from Barrett, but teammate Kearrius Townsend grabbed the rebound to run more clock and eventually put Barrett back on the free-throw line.

“Barrett’s our best free-throw shooter, so we naturally wanted the ball in his hands at the end,” Clay said.

Nettleton rushed out to a seven-point lead midway through the second quarter and the Raiders led 28-25 at halftime.

But the Blue Devils defense held the hosts scoreless for four-plus minutes into the fourth quarter and it allowed them to take a 33-28 lead with 5:24 left.

Barrett, the team’s starting point guard, but only the fifth-leading scorer on the club, scored eight of West Memphis’ final 10 points.

Barrett’s 12 points paced the Blue Devils while forward Kam Barnes added 10 and Townsend contributed 9.

Nettleton’s Davares Whitaker led all scores with 14 points.