Lady Rebels beat BIC for tournament title

In a back and forth battle all night, Riverside (31-3) outscored BIC (21-13) 16-7 in the fourth quarter to take a 52-40 win in the championship game of the 2A-3 district tournament this past Monday in Rector. Both teams will play in the 2A-2 Regional Tournament starting today in Lake City as Riverside plays Marshall and BIC takes on Sloan-Hendrix.

Brooklyn Berry gave the Lady Rebels the early 3-0 lead with a three-pointer before Riley Parker canned a three-ball for BIC to tie the game at 3-3. Ryley Eakins hit triple twine, Arden Vaughn connected on a jumper while Berry hit another three-pointer for the Lady Rebels to make it 11-3 with 3:40 left in the opening quarter. Emma Kate McCord drilled a three-pointer for BIC, Eakins hit a three-ball for the Lady Rebels and the Lady Mustangs got a three-pointer from Parker and two free throws from Josephine Hanneken to make the score 14-11 Riverside at the end of the first quarter.

Carly Jo Womack and Klaire Womack hit back to three pointers early in the second quarter for the Lady Rebels and Jaylyn Cagle hit a three-ball for BIC to cut the lead to 20-14 Riverside. Carly Jo Womack scored the next five points for the Lady Rebels with a three-pointer and a jumper to push the Lady Rebels lead to 25-14 with 3:02 left. Chandler Gathright hit one of two free throws for BIC before Berry got a stick back basket for the Lady Rebels. BIC’s Gathright made two of four free throws on back to back trips to the line before Vaughn hit two free throws and scored in the paint for Riverside to make the score 31-17. BICs Gathright hit one of two free throws and Parker scored off the fast break to make it 31-20 Lady Rebels at halftime.

Cagle opened the third quarter with a three-ball for BIC and Gathright followed with two free throws to make the score 31-25 Riverside. Carly Jo Womack scored down low for the Lady Rebels only to see BIC get back to back triple twine from Parker and McCord to make the score 33-31 Riverside with 1:40 left. Eakins connected on a three-ball for Riverside before Gathright hit two free throws for the Lady Mustangs making it 36-33 Lady Rebels at the end of three quarters of play.

Eakins opened the fourth quarter with a jumper for Riverside while the Lady Mustangs got one of two free throws from Parker and a steal and layup from McCord to make it 38-36 Lady Rebels with 4:16 left in the game. Klaire Womack hit a three-pointer for Riverside, and Gathright hit one of two free throws for BIC to make it 43-37. The Lady Rebels scored the next eight points as Carly Jo Womack hit two free throws, Eakins hit a jumper, Berry canned a three-pointer and Carly Jo Womack made one of two free throws to push the Riverside lead to 51-37. Parker hit one of two free throws for BIC, Carly Jo Womack made two free throws for the Lady Rebels, before Gathright hit a jumper for the Lady Mustangs. Carly Jo Womack scored the last point of the game for Riverside with one of two free throws to make the final score 52-40 Lady Rebels.

“I thought it was a tale of two halves as I thought we controlled the first half pretty good with two of our best scorers in foul trouble,” Riverside head coach Tyler Timms said. “I think in the third quarter we got a little lost as BIC went to a man defense and it gave us a little trouble. It was a physical game and I’m glad my girls are finding ways to win. That’s what winners do, just find a way to get it done. I’m really proud of this group,” Timms added.

Carly Jo Womack led three Riverside players in double figures with 16 points while Eakins and Berry scored 13 and 11 points respectively. Vaughn and Klaire Womack added six points each for the Lady Rebels.

“Man, they (Riverside) are tough and they can come out and shoot it like they did, they can beat about anybody,” BIC head coach Trevor Matheny said after the game. “They hit us in the mouth early and I thought we hit them in mouth right back but they threw the last punch and it was enough to take care of it for them,” Matheny added. “I told the girls this one is on me, they did a few things I thought they would and we weren’t prepared for it so that’s on me,” Matheny said.

Parker scored 13 points to lead the Lady Mustangs with Gathright adding 11 points. McCord netted eight points, Cagle had six points and Hanneken chipped in two points for BIC.