Lady Tigers fall in district tournament opener

Armorel (6-22) found themselves in a hole early and couldn’t get out of it as the Lady Tigers lost 81-27 to Maynard in the opening round of the 1A-3 district tournament played at Ridgefield Christian School in Jonesboro.

Maynard reeled off the first 18 points of the game before Armorel got a reverse layup from Emily Loyd to make it 18-2 Armorel with two minutes left in the opening quarter. Maynard hit a jumper in the lane before Loyd made another reverse layup making the score 20-4. Maynard converted a conventional three-point play, Skylar Ashmore drilled a three-pointer for Armorel only to see Maynard get back to back baskets making the score 27-7 Maynard at the end of one.

Maynard pushed the led to 31-7 before Hayden Flatness hit a jumper in the lane to make it 31-9. Maynard scored the next 13 points making 44-9 before Flatness stuck back an offensive rebound to make the score 44-11 Maynard with 3:20 left. Back to back baskets by Maynard and a jumper in the lane from Ashmore made the score 48-13 Maynard. A steal and layup from Maynard and one of two free throws from Baylee Van Dyke made the halftime score 50-14 Maynard.

Six straight points from Maynard to open the third quarter pushed their lead to 56-14 before Ashmore hit triple twine for Armorel to make it 56-17 with 5:32 left as the turbo clock was running. Back to back baskets by Maynard made it 60-17 before Armorel got a three-pointer and two free throws from Van Dyke making the score 60-22. Maynard hit a three-ball and stuck back a rebound to make the score 65-22 after three quarters of play.

A 7-2 run by Maynard pushed their lead to 72-24 before Flatness got a steal and layup for Armorel’s points. Ashmore hit one of two free throws for Armorel, Maynard drilled a three-pointer, Flatness hit a jumper making it 76-27. Maynard scored the last five points to make the final score 81-27 Maynard.

“With only five girls tonight we did all we could do,” Armorel head coach Wes Sanders said after the game. “I’m proud of the way they played the second half, they played really hard,” Sanders added.

Ashmore led Armorel with nine points while Flatness finished with eight points. Van Dyke tossed in six points while Loyd added four points for the Lady Tigers.