Lady Pirates victorious on senior night

Lady Pirates 59,

Lady Indians 48

GOSNELL— First year head coach of the Gosnell Lady Pirates Monroe Carr along with assistant coach Marcus McClain honored their three seniors — Imari John, Layla Meacham, and Sierra Simmons—  during senior night Thursday inside the Gosnell Gymnasium where they defeated non-conference foe the Hayti Lady Indians, 59-48.

“The good thing about all three of them is they are all good, kind hearted, polite kids,” explained Carr. “They’re ones that these younger ones look up to. That's my favorite thing about them is good attitudes and they are just really good people.”

Carr continued, “They’ve helped lay the foundation.”

The Lady Pirates (6-19)  led, 10-8, at the end of the first quarter and added to their lead in the second quarter, out-scoring the Lady Indians, 15-8, to lead 25-16 at the half.

Junior guard Natalee Murphy opened the third quarter with a three-point basket to give GHS a 12 point lead

The Lady Pirates outscored Hayti 15-13 in the third quarter to lead 40-29.

Hayti attempted a late comeback; however, the deficit was too much to overcome as the Lady Pirates held on for their sixth win on the season.

“I’m proud of the way we responded (after the loss to the Blytheville Lady Chickasaws Tuesday night). That’s what we are preaching. It’s all about mental toughness,” said Carr. “(Tonight was) a positive reinforcement in confidence. It's bittersweet that it’s your last home game, but it's sweet at the end of it because you come out with a win.”

Murphy led the Lady Pirates offensively with 15 points, including two three-pointers. Simmons and freshman Bryonna Thompson chipped in 13 points, apiece. LaeLae Lincoln added 12 points in the victory.

Johnson and Meachem added two points, respectively.

“Bre’s playmaking is huge for us. According to the stats, she had six assists tonight and when she’s making plays like that it just makes life easier on everybody else,” explained Carr. “When we’re hitting shots from the outside like Natalee Murphy has here recently that also makes things easier because it just opens things up inside for Sierra and LaeLae who can score it.”

Carr continued, “Natalee has been shooting it with confidence and I mean we tell her to shoot. We need her to shoot. But her and Bre, they’ve bought in and they trust it. Just to see them play the way they have is beautiful to see.”

The Lady Pirates drew the fifth seed and will face the fourth seed Brookland Lady Bearcats Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 4 p.m.

Gosnell was defeated in their first regular season matchup against the Lady Bearcats at Gosnell, 51-45, but avenged the loss two weeks later at Brookland, 50-44.

“This time of year it's whoever shows up to play. It’s a 0-0 season,” said Carr. “We’re going to celebrate tonight. Enjoy it. Then we gotta get ready and prepare for (Brookland). We got some things to tweak but we will show up to play.”