LR Christian thunders past PA
4A-5 BOYS LITTLE ROCK CHRISTIAN 75, PULASKI ACADEMY 39
The Little Rock Christian Warriors showed no love to their west Little Rock rival Tuesday night.
The Warriors (20-5, 14-1 4A-5) blew out the Pulaski Academy Bruins 75-39 in what turned out to be a late season tuneup for next week’s regional tournament at Clinton.
“I thought we came out well,’’ Little Rock Christian Coach Kyle Pennington said. “Obviously PA is a rivalry game here in many sports. I thought we came out, we knew they were going to fight early, and we told our guys to continue to play. I thought we shot the ball well. I think our first four shots were three-pointers.
“I thought we shot it well. Then got it inside and I thought our pressure on defense got to them and that kind of flipped the game.
The Warriors forced 22 turnovers and had 14 offensive rebounds in the one-sided victory over the Bruins (7-15, 5-10).
Ben Fox, JJ Andrews and Jameel Wesley all made three-pointers to start the game and the Warriors had an early 12-6 lead. Little Rock Christian finished the quarter on an 11-5 run, including another three-pointer by Fox, and was up 23-11 after one quarter.
The Warriors opened the second quarter, when the Bruins had nine turnovers, with a 16-2 run and it was 39-13 with 3:50 left until halftime. At the break, Little Rock Christian held a 45-17 lead.
“It’s winning time now,” Pennington said. “It is time now. We are just going to keep pushing and be ready to play.
“We have Heber Springs on Friday night and then it is time to go to the regional tournament and make some noise and go to the state tournament and make some noise.
“At this point, we are not playing against an opponent. We are playing against ourselves.”
Fox led the Warriors with 18 points and Andrews added 17. Wesley scored 11 and Corliss Williamson Jr. added 10.
Pulaski Academy was led by Kenny Jordan and Connor Coldren had eight points each. Tyson McCarroll added seven points.
GIRLS
LITTLE ROCK CHRISTIAN 68, LITTLE ROCK PARKVIEW 62
Freshman Whitley Rogers scored 25 points to lead Little Rock Christian (18-8, 9-4 5A-Central) over Little Rock Parkview.
Rogers got scoring help from AJ. Jackson with 15, Kate Deaton with 13 and Mia Smith with 13 to put a kink into the conference title hopes of the Lady Patriots (19-6, 11-2).
Parkview was led by Deanna Kamanga’s 18 points. Tyra Robinson had 16 and Jada Page nine.