Lady Lions lock down Rivercrest

WILSON – The Manila Lady Lions followed their script against Rivercrest. A little defense, a lot of physicality, plus transition points with some three-pointers sprinkled in and that led to a 76-41 rout of the Lady Colts Monday, Jan. 27.

The win earned the Lady Lions (18-5, 10-0) the number one seed in the 3A-3 District Tournament, plus put them a step closer to an outright league title and an undefeated mark in conference play.

The officials set the tone early with foul calls on both teams. In fact, Manila had reached the five foul limit just halfway through the first quarter. All in all, 45 fouls were whistled and the teams combined to shoot 50 free throws.

“Yeah, it was a tightly officiated,” replied Manila head coach Chad LaRose when asked his reaction to the way the officials called the game.

“When we get in foul trouble,” he continued, “I know we can put in the next one and if that (player) gets fouls, then we can put in the someone else.”

While Manila can easily go 10-12 deep with its bench, Rivercrest (15-9, 8-2) doesn’t have that luxury.

Lady Colt leading scorer Destiny Burks was whistled for her fourth foul late in the second quarter and spent the rest of the half on the bench. Her first foul drew the ire of Rivercrest head coach Ronnie Dye, who typically doesn’t get his dander up when it comes to officiating.

His squad was already trailing 6-0 just 1:30 into the game when Burks was a bit too aggressive on a rebound and her elbow appeared to catch Manila’s Lucy Farmer in the neck area.

Farmer grimaced as she looked toward the official and the whistle was blown. Dye was livid and quickly drew the technical foul for his reaction.

“You know I don’t get technicals normally” explained Dye who could only recall being ‘T’ed up once in his Rivercrest coaching career. “Yes, I work the officials trying to get the next call but always seem to stop short of getting the technical. I was hoping the girls would respond and yeah, they got pumped up, but we could not score a basket.”

No, the Lady Colts couldn’t as Manila ran off seven straight points to up their lead to 13-0 with a little more than five minutes left in the opening period.

Following the technical free throws by Jenna LaRose, Madysen Deeds stuck back a miss and a Hadlie Goodson nailed a three-pointer to give the visiting Lady Lions the double-digit cushion. The Lady Colts came no closer than 10 points for the balance of the game.

It was not until the five minute mark that Rivercrest scored a point. That came when Jalexia Young sank one-of-two free throws.

All but four of the Lady Colts 12 points came from the charity stripe in the first quarter as Burks accounted for the first field goal.

Manila game-planned for the high scoring Burks doing their best to deny her the basketball. That coupled with the foul trouble, limited the senior, who averages nearly 18 points per game, to just five points.

“We put Jen on her,” explained LaRose, “and the one rule was pick her up full (court). If (Burks) beat us she was going to have to go the length of the floor every possession.

“We wanted to wear her down over time, bump her through the lane,” he continued. “Somebody else was going to have to beat us before she did.”

And the Lady Colts generated little offense with its senior scorer on the bench. Burks fouled out with 4:59 left in the third quarter.

“A lot of teams do that,” said Dye of Manila’s defensive strategy, “but we usually do a good job of getting (Burks) touches. Not tonight though. Very frustrating game.”

Manila led 23-12 after one quarter and upped the gap to 24 points by halftime, leading 42-18.

And any thoughts of a Lady Colt comeback were put to rest early as Farmer found her groove connecting on three from long distance in the first few moments of the third period.

After a Randashia Booker three pointer to open the frame, Farmer sank threes on back-to-back possessions with Chloe Helms assisting on one. LaRose found an open Farmer two plays later for her third three of the quarter.

“We were going to keep finding (Lucy),” said Coach LaRose of his junior sharp shooter who scored a game-high 25 points. “Lucy had the hot hand tonight.

“I give my post (players) credit,” continued Rose calling out Deeds and Helms. “They’re down in the paint banging, drawing the double teams. They pass out of it and find the open player.”

Farmer’s quick nine points, a Goodson three and a Helms free throw grew the lead to 32 points just three minutes into the third period. From there, it was just a matter of the final score. Manila led by 37 points at the end of the quarter which set the sportsmanship clock in motion in the final frame.

“I know we need to play smarter,” said LaRose of his team’s overall performance, “but I can’t tell them not to play hard. We’re going to be us.

“I like how we didn’t back down,” he added.

In addition to her 25 points, Farmer collected eight rebounds and three steals. Goodson tallied 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. Bailey Wilson reached double figures with 10. Madison Tune checked the box in nearly every statistical category with eight points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals. LaRose contributed five points, four rebounds and four steals.

“Foul trouble really limited us tonight,” explained Dye. “We weren’t able to get up and press them. That’s how you beat Manila in my opinion. Wear ‘em down and you may have a chance.

“Yeah, we knew it was going to take a near perfect game to beat them,” conceded Dye. “They’re a top five team and probably gonna make a run in the state tournament. Hopefully, we get another shot at them in the district tournament.”

Young paced Rivercrest with 14 points and Booker added eight points and four assists. Gabby Harris chipped in six points and seven rebounds.