By By Fredie Carmichael/Special to The Star
Feb. 16, 2001
The tables are now set. The Lady Tigers of Newton will play Bay Springs tonight for the 7-2A Division Tournament title. Bay Springs sprinted past Richton to an 85-66 win in the second girls' game, while Newton held off the Lady Tartars of Taylorsville 60-53 in the opener.
Newton girls 60, Taylorsville 53: Arthur Carter's squad led most of the game but had to break-away in the end to get the victory over Taylorsville.
Newton and Taylorsville slugged it out in the game's first quarter as the Lady Tigers held a slim 16-14 lead at the end of the period.
The Lady Tigers were able to contain the play of Lady Tartar star Amanda McGill, limiting her to just two first half points.
Newton used solid defense in the second to stretch its lead to 29-19 at the break. "Our plan was to come out and limit their outside shooting." Carter said. "They have an extremely good outside shooting ball-club and we were able to keep them from getting open looks."
Behind the play of McGill and Tenesia Howard, the Lady Tartars outscored Newton 16-9 in the third and trailed only 38-35 with one quarter to play.
Newton made its free throws in the game's final quarter and claimed the win to advance to tonight's championship game.
Newton's Bender blazed the nets for a game-high 26 points. Taylorsville's Howard had 19, while McGill used nine second half points to bring her total to 11.
Bay Springs girls 85, Richton 66: In one of the night's better games, the Bay Springs Lady Bulldogs broke open a relatively close ball-game to come away with the 85-66 victory.
The game appeared to be a long range shooting battle between Bay Springs' Kristi Martin, who netted a game-high 34 points including four 3-pointers, and Richton's Danielle Smith who also nailed four trey's and put up 31 points.
Richton got off on the right foot and was up 12-5 after a 3-pointer by Smith with 2:45 left in the first period. Martin heated up a few minutes later when she drained her first three of the night to bring the Lady Bulldogs to within 14-10.
With :31 left in the first quarter, Martin nailed another trey that brought Bay Springs to within one at 15-16. Jasmine Verscher hit a jumper at the buzzer and Richton enjoyed an 18-15 lead at the end of the first.
The second quarter is when Martin and the Lady Bulldogs took over and never looked back. Martin scored the quarter's first seven points and after she dropped a baseline jumper with 6:26 to play in the half Bay Springs led 22-18.
Martin ended the third quarter on back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers from the top of the key and Bay Springs took a commanding 57-44 lead with one quarter remaining.
Smith attempted to lead the Lady Rebels on a valiant come-back in the last quarter but Bay Springs was just too much to handle as it claimed the 85-66 victory.
Followed by Martin's 34, Bay Springs' Karen Clayton had 24 while Brittany Martin chipped in with 17. Richton was led by Smith's 31 and Verscher's 20.
Bay Springs will fight in out with Newton tonight at 6 p.m. for the 7-2A championship.