A late shot from beyond the arc and two clutch free throws clinched a hard-fought rivalry win for Sheridan on Friday.
The Lady Jacket basketball team edged out White Hall 59-55 at Yellowjacket Arena.
Sheridan coach Jamison Ingram said the Lady Jackets had to remain calm and composed to outlast the Lady Bulldogs.
“White Hall does a great job defensively,” Ingram said. “They forced us to feel chaotic tonight. I think tonight, it was just about settling down and believing in the stuff that we do and taking that extra breath, a deep breath and just calm down. Get it done. I was proud to see us do that.”
Sheridan (13-6, 4-2 in 5A-South) finished with nine made 3-pointers, the biggest of which came from sophomore Lilly Reid in the final minutes to give the Lady Jackets a two-possession lead. Senior Kayden Porter made two critical free throws with 14.4 remaining to seal the win.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Sheridan senior Emma Goodman led the Lady Jackets with 16 points. Reid and Porter each scored 14.
Ingram said those three feed off each other.
“[Porter] gets to get to the bucket because Lilly’s such a great shooter,” Ingram said. “Lilly can get it to the basket. We’ve had multiple nights where Emma Goodman’s had 16, 18. She’s a scorer for us. I thought she did a great job of getting to the bucket.”
White Hall (11-8, 3-3) made eight 3-pointers, including two in the fourth quarter. Kynnedi Barnett led with 16 points, followed by Jelayla Stith with 14.
Sheridan scored the game’s first 8 points and eventually led 11-2 after a Porter 3-pointer. Goodman opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer, giving Sheridan a 20-10 lead, but White Hall rallied. Stith hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 25. The teams traded buckets before Goodman finished the quarter how she started it, nailing a 3-pointer that gave the Lady Jackets a 28-25 halftime lead.
Kenedi Bowman gave White Hall its first lead with 4:56 to play in the third, and Barnett added a 3-pointer to make it 34-30. The Lady Bulldogs held on to the lead for most of the quarter, but Sheridan finished on a 6-0 run to lead 41-39 entering the fourth.
Ingram said Sheridan’s composure allowed the Lady Jackets to recover from White Hall’s rally.
“[White Hall] was very aggressive,” Ingram said. “The officials were letting us play. There was some contact. You’ve gotta play through that. We’re a shooting team, and sometimes when you’re not shooting the way you’re accustomed to, which some of us were, some of us weren’t. We’re really not getting in our head too much.”
Macie Lambert began the fourth with a go-ahead 3-pointer for White Hall, but Sheridan retook the lead with an 8-0 run. White Hall got the deficit down to 54-52 after a shot by Bowman and a 3-point play by Stith with 2:04 remaining, but Reid answered with the game’s final 3-pointer. Neither team scored from the field again as Sheridan closed out a big rivalry win.