MONTICELLO — Despite fighting back into the game in the second quarter, the Watson Chapel girls basketball team’s season ended Wednesday night.
Camden Fairview defeated the Lady Wildcats 63-51 at Monticello High School in the opening round of the Class 4A Region 4 tournament.
Watson Chapel coach Lenell Brown said the Lady Wildcats (22-5) didn’t come out ready to play.
“(Fairview) just wanted it more tonight,” Brown said. “They just flat-out dominated, something that we preached all year long. They just came and they hit us in the mouth, and we never could recover.”
Camden Fairview (20-10) scored the second-most points any team has against Watson Chapel this season. The only team to score more was the last team to beat the Lady Wildcats. De Queen, a conference mate of Arkadelphia’s in 4A-7, scored 72 in early January.
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The Lady Wildcats hadn’t allowed more than 47 points in a game since that loss en route to winning the Conference 4A-8 title.
Watson Chapel led 5-2 early in the game, but Fairview used down-court passing to break the Lady Wildcats’ press and score with ease. A 9-0 run put Fairview in front, and the Lady Cardinals led 22-11 after the first quarter.
Brown said the Lady Cardinals’ breaking the press so easily got Watson Chapel out of sync.
“They’re so big, they were just looking right over the top of us,” Brown said. “Talking to my coaches, we just kind of adjusted and tried to play them in half-court, because they were so big, which, we knew they were big, anyway. Yeah, they kind of took us out of sync. They took us out of our game plan.”
Jayla Rodgers and Trinity Mitchner started the second quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers, forcing a quick Fairview timeout. The rest of the quarter, the Lady Wildcats chipped away at the Fairview lead and hit two more 3-pointers.
Fairview struggled to score but drew fouls and got to the line, ultimately attempting 12 free throws in the second quarter. The fouls and turnover issues kept the Lady Wildcats trailing, but they closed the gap to 31-28 by halftime.
All that work was undone when Fairview opened the second half with a 15-2 run. The Lady Cardinals went on to outscore the Lady Wildcats 20-7 in the third quarter to put the game away.
Kha’Leyce Cooper led Watson Chapel with 16 points, followed by MaKyah Earl with 9. Miciah Fusilier led Fairview with 18 points, with Jordan Clary adding 13.
Brown, who was named Conference 4A-8 coach of the year, said the Lady Wildcats had a great season, despite the way it ended.
“I really wanted to send those kids to state,” Brown said. “I really wanted to them to have that moment. I really did want them to have that moment, but hey, back in the lab. We’ll try to get it done next year.”
GIRLS: Nashville 81, Monticello 43
The Monticello girls opened the week by playing the tournament’s first game in their home arena, but Conference 4A-7 champion Nashville cruised past the Lady Billies.
Nashville (23-7) used its full court press to force turnovers and led 28-8 after the first quarter. The Scrapperettes went on to lead 39-10 midway through the second quarter before its offense suddenly went dormant despite numerous offensive rebounds.
Monticello (8-17) couldn’t take advantage and close the gap. The Lady Billies came out of halftime and scored 20 points in the third quarter, but the Scrapperettes scored 28 to pull ahead enough to trigger a running clock in the fourth.
Ava Basiliere scored 24 points to lead Nashville, with Karstyn Scrivner adding 22. Monticello’s leaders were Genesis Freeman with 11 points and JaNiyah Goodman with 10.
BOYS: Magnolia 60, Monticello 31
The Monticello boys struggled to solve the Magnolia defense in the first boys’ game of the tournament.
Monticello (6-16) hung around for the first few minutes. Joseph Accelus scored first to give the Billies a 2-0 lead. After the Panthers hit a pair of shots, he made a free throw to cut the deficit to 4-3 with 3:24 remaining in the first quarter.
Magnolia (19-1) finally got going afterward, finishing the first and opening the second on a 14-0 run before an Accelus shot with 5:43 remaining in the first half. The Panthers then went on a 12-0 run to pull away and cruised the rest of the game after making five 3-pointers in the first half.
Accelus finished with a game-high 21 points, but only two other Billies scored. Omorie Johnson led Magnolia, which will play in the Class 4A state tournament in its home gym, with 15 points.
BOYS: Arkadelphia 65, Warren 55
A hot start didn’t last for the Warren boys as Arkadelphia eliminated the Conference 4A-8 champions.
Warren (14-3) opened the game on a 10-3 run, forcing the Badgers to take a timeout with 4:28 on the clock in the first quarter.
Arkadelphia (14-12) closed the gap to 13-12 by the end of the first quarter then quickly took the lead in the second. A Warren 6-0 run later in the quarter briefly put the Lumberjacks back in front, but O’Bryant Roberts hit two 3-pointers, one a buzzer beater, to put the Badgers up 32-27 at halftime. They led the rest of the game.
Roberts scored 29 points for Arkadelphia, with James Elgas adding 15. Zaydin Grider led Warren with 14 points, followed by Antonio Jordan with 13.