Moore’s 43 points propel Baptist Prep
3A-5 GIRLS
BAPTIST PREP 71, PERRYVILLE 61
A defensive adjustment at halftime and a strong performance on the offensive glass kept the Baptist Prep Lady Eagles close to the Perryville Mustangs on Tuesday night in Little Rock.
But it was Baptist Prep sophomore Makensie Moore who made the difference.
Turning in a career night, Moore finished with 43 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, as the Lady Eagles (14-3, 4-3 3A-5) rallied for a 71-61 victory, their third straight.
“It was an unbelievable night,” Baptist Prep Coach Chris Smith said. “I mean she’s had a good year, and she is a competitor who hates to lose and she plays her heart out every night.
“She’s had a couple of 22-point games maybe a 25-point night, but this is as hot as I have seen her. We know that she can shoot it, but she just had a great night.“
Baptist Prep point guard Chloey-Rei Brown had 12 points and made sure Moore kept getting scoring opportunities.
“You have to give her credit because she knew who was hot and she kept getting her the ball,” Smith said.
Baptist Prep trailed 18-15 After the first quarter and was down 34-27 at halftime.
With 3:59 left in the third, Perryville (18-6, 4-3) led 4233. But at the end of the quarter, Baptist Prep held a 47-46 advantage.
“Our man defense was bad in the first half, so we knew we had to make an adjust- ment,” Smith said. “So we switched to a 2-3 zone. … We are really aren’t a zone team, but we knew we had to make something happen. We were behind and I felt like,I knew Mac was really on and I felt like they would get on her more, so we had to create something.
“That is why we started to play zone because we had to make that adjustment. We just felt like we had to make a change.”
Baptist Prep forced 10 turnovers in the second half, including eight in the final 12 minutes of the game.
It was one of seven Moore’s seven-pointers, one right before the buzzer to end the quarter, that gave the Lady Eagles the lead after three quarters.
Perryville would not go away quietly and led 51-50 with 6:46 left.
With Baptist Prep leading 52-51, Moore scored nine of the next 11 points, which allowed the Lady Eagles to take control. The Mustangs got as close as 63-61 with 1:51 left but would not score again.
Cameron Christie led Perryville with 23 points. Kate Wood added 18 points.
BOYS
BAPTIST PREP 46, PERRYVILLE 32
The Mustangs pulled away from the Eagles in the second quarter en route to a road victory.
The Mustangs led just 12-9 after one quarter but built that to 29-14 by halftime.
Luke Underwood led Perryville with 19 points and Payton Scott added 12. Jonathan Baughman scored nine.
Luke Hatcher led Baptist with nine points.