Lady Indians fall on the road at Earle

A slow start in the first two quarters saw Marked Tree in a double digit deficit they couldn’t recover from in a 57-51 loss to Earle in 1A-3 action this past Friday in Earle. The game was a match-up of the top two teams in the standings.

The Lady Bulldogs jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Lakirssa Dupree hit two free throws making it 4-2. Earle scored in the paint and Alyssa McGuire hit triple twine to make the score 6-5 Lady Bulldogs with 4:04 left. Earle pushed the lead to 11-5 before Ava McCuiston scored down low to make the score 11-7 Earle. The Lady Bulldogs hit two of three free throws after being fouled attempting a three-pointer then McCuiston scored in the paint to make it 13-9 Earle. The Lady Bulldogs added a late basket to make the score 15-9 Earle after one. Earle pushed the lead to 20-9 early in the second quarter as Dupree hit a jumper to make it 20-11 Lady Bulldogs. Earle reeled off the next eight points to go up 28-11 before the Lady Indians got a jumper in the lane from McGuire making it 28-13 with 3:51 left. Then Earle made one of two free throws and the Lady Indians got an old-school three-point play from Dupree and one of two free throws from Amya Nesbitt to cut the lead to 29-17. Earle got a steal and layup, Marked Tree got two free throws from Nesbitt and a basket inside from Journi Versie before the Lady Bulldogs hit one of two free throws and a jumper to take a 34-21 lead to halftime.

Earle hit a jumper to open the third quarter scoring before Dupree hit triple twine for the Lady Indians making it 36-24. Back to back baskets from the Lady Bulldogs pushed the lead to 40-24 before Versie hit one of two free throws to make it 40-25 Earle with 4:18 left. The Lady Bulldogs hit one of two free throws, McGuire scored in the paint, Earle hit two of three free throws after being fouled shooting a three-pointer only to see Marked Tree score the last seven points of the quarter 57-51 Earle.

“It goes back to first half, we just didn’t show up. We didn’t come out ready to play and Earle did in the first half,” Marked Tree head coach Colten Frazier said after the game. “I like the fight my kids had in the second half as we fought back to cut a big lead in the third quarter but we never recovered from the first half,” Frazier added.

Nesbitt led Marked Tree with 14 points while Dupree finished with 12 points. Anderson and McGuire scored seven points each, McCuiston tossed in six points and Versie had five points for the Lady Indians.