A playoff-like atmosphere greeted the Watson Chapel girls basketball team as they gave everything they had against one of the best players in the country on Saturday.
Oak Grove, La., junior center Caroline Bradley proved too much for Watson Chapel in helping the Lady Tigers win 58-55 i the King Cotton Holiday Classic at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
Bradley, the top-ranked recruit in Louisiana, scored 35 points with 17 rebounds.
Watson Chapel (9-4) Coach Lenell Brown said he liked how his team competed against a 6-foot-5 player who he said would likely play in the WNBA one day.
“No one backed down,” Brown said. “We had times where we led the game, and we had times where we had some mental errors, because we got tired. All in all, I’m proud of them. I am. I really am proud of them.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Watson Chapel senior Maranda Emerson hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 53 late in the fourth quarter. Bradley restored Oak Grove’s lead, but Watson Chapel senior Alexiah Anderson made a tough layup to tie the game at 55 with 39.5 seconds remaining.
Bradley scored with 17.9 seconds left while drawing a foul, the fifth on Watson Chapel’s senior center, Christian Lovett. Bradley made the free throw to give Oak Grove a three-point advantage. Watson Chapel got the ball into the front court and called timeout with 5.8 seconds remaining.
After getting lined up, Oak Grove called a timeout of its own. Once the Lady Wildcats finally inbounded the ball, miscommunication led to a quick turnover, forcing Watson Chapel to foul with 1.5 seconds left. Oak Grove missed both free throws, but the Lady Wildcats didn’t get a shot off in time.
Emerson and Anderson each scored 16 points to lead Watson Chapel, with fellow senior Jayla Rodgers adding 11. Watson Chapel made 12 of 29 shots from three-point range, including seven in the first half. Emerson and Anderson made four each.
Brown said Watson Chapel needed to shoot well from three-point range with Bradley’s size in the post.
“I wanted to shoot them out that zone (defense), which, I knew they were going to come out and play a zone,” Brown said. “Most teams gonna play a zone, because they seen our struggles with it. And then, with a girl as big as her, I knew there were going to clog the paint up.”
The Lady Wildcats led most of the game. The lead changed hands six times in the first quarter, with Watson Chapel leading 19-14 after closing the period on a 10-2 run. A 10-0 Oak Grove run gave the Lady Tigers a brief lead in the second quarter, but a shot by senior Jada Briggs and a three from Anderson sent Watson Chapel into halftime up 29-25.
Watson Chapel led the entire third quarter, but Oak Grove rallied by outscoring Watson Chapel 21-11 in the fourth.
A pro-Watson Chapel crowd created a great atmosphere in the fourth quarter. Brown said the support meant a lot to the Lady Wildcats.
“They just happy people actually came out and supported girls basketball,” Brown said. “Big ups to King Cotton, (tournament director) Sam Glover. He did an amazing job not putting us first but putting us in the middle (of the schedule). Got people out here showing their support for the kids. We just love it, man.”
BOYS: Barton 55, Raymond, Miss. 49
Barton never trailed as the Bears knocked off last year’s Mississippi Class 4A champions in the opening game of King Cotton.
Senior forward Qulan Green led the Bears with 26 points and 12 rebounds. Jordan Humphrey followed with 10 points after shooting 2 of 6 from three-point range. Keyonn Downs led Raymond with 12 points, followed by Kylon Graves with 11.
Green scored Barton’s first eight points. The Bears led by as much as 13 in the first half, but the Rangers used three-point shooting and takeaways to go on a run late in the first half to cut their deficit to 30-25 by halftime.
Raymond cut the deficit to one point multiple times in the second half but never tied the game or took the lead. A big three-pointer by Jordan Humphrey in the final 2 minutes helped the Bears put the game away.
This was Barton’s only game in the Creed Showcase. Raymond will return on Monday to play Little Rock Hall at 10 a.m.
Zachary, La. 63, North Little Rock 36
Junior Ian Edmond scored 13 points and led Zachary to a rout of North Little Rock in a showcase game.
Edmond, the MVP from last season’s Louisiana Division I championship team, was the only double-digit scorer for the Broncos (15-1), who are based just north of Baton Rouge. Nine other Broncos entered the scoring column, with Mason Newman totaling nine points and nine rebounds and Ethan Kimmie dropping in eight points.
North Little Rock, a traditional 6A power, led 15-8 before Zachary outscored the Charging Wildcats 23-2. Zachary scored 22 points off 17 North Little Rock turnovers, and the Broncos’ bench outscored the Wildcats’ reserves 25-11.
Elijah Bryant led North Little Rock (4-4) with 10 points, and Ontarious Odom pulled down 10 rebounds to go with six points.
Commercial Senior Reporter I.C. Murrell contributed to this article.
