Junior Lady Colts among day one victors in district tourney

WILSON – Day one of the 3A-3 Junior High District Tournament followed the seed line as all the girls’ higher seeds advanced to the semifinals Feb. 11. Hoxie, the two seed, upended Newport, while Rivercrest and Walnut Ridge defeated Harrisburg and Osceola, respectively.

RJHS 40,

Harrisburg 25

The host Jr. Lady Colts, seeded third, easily handled sixth-seeded Harrisburg behind Armani Facon’s 17 points and Aniyah Woods’ 10.

The RJHS pair combined for 13 of their team’s 19 first quarter points, while the defense created turnovers and collected steals to set up the offense.

Rivercrest lead 25-8 at the break and outscored the Jr. Lady Hornets, 13-4, in the third period putting the game well out of reach at 38-12.

Sophia Moore led Harrisburg with five points and teammate Zoey Shelton chipped in four.

Rivercrest advanced to play Hoxie Feb. 11.

Walnut Ridge 28,

OJHS 26

The four-five seed game went down to the wire as the Jr. Lady Cats edged the Jr. Lady Noles by two.

Osceola trailed 27-23 with less than a minute remaining, but rallied behind two Lema Hooks baskets in the final 37 seconds. Her three-pointer with :30 pulled the Lady Noles within one at 27-26. Teammate Raegan High was credited with the assist.

OJHS missed a chance to take the lead after a missed Walnut Ridge trey. However, they missed a two and with just nine seconds remaining were forced to foul.

Walnut Ridge’s Langley Austin missed the first of two free throws but was true on the second to extend the Lady Cats lead to 28-26.

With a chance to tie or go ahead, Osceola turned the ball over just as time expired in the game.

Sloan Cain led Walnut Ridge with nine points, Zoey Matthews chipped in six and Austin added five. The Lady Cats faced the conference’s number one seed Manila Feb. 11.

Hooks and High tied for team-high honors for OJHS with eight points apiece.

Hoxie 36,

Newport 7

The Jr. Lady Mustangs made short work of the lowest seeded team in the tournament.

Hoxie held Newport scoreless for 11 minutes over the first two quarters and by the time the Lady Hounds finally got the ball in the basket they trailed Hoxie by more than 20 points.

The Jr. Lady Mustangs rolled in the third quarter as well outscoring the Newport, 11-2, to extend their halftime lead to 31 points.

Maddox Orrick led all scorers with 11 points. Natalie Brand added seven and Addison Croom contributed six for the two seed. Newport’s Addy McClure scored three points to lead her team.

The tournament continued Tuesday with the girls championship game slated for Thursday at 6 p.m.