Lady Warriors return for another run at state title

Jordan Madden goes against heavy pressure to make one of her baskets during the Lady Warriors 56-50 loss to Marshall in the second round of the 3A Region 3 tournament last Saturday afternoon at Marmaduke. (Tribune photo/Dan Brawner) [Click to enlarge]

For the fourth year in a row, the EPC Lady Warriors have earned a trip to the state tournament. In those years it has been sometimes as a 3A team and sometimes as a team from the 2A. Regardless of the classification, though, the Lady Warriors have clearly become a dominating force in basketball not in just the northeast part of the state, but statewide.

The one goal they haven't achieved is the state crown in any classification. Once again they find themselves just four wins away from that elusive goal and will begin that quest Thursday in Cave City against England. To get to the this position, though, the Lady Warriors had to qualify by winning their first game in the 3A Region 3 tournament in Marmaduke last Thursday.

EPC 63,

Yellville-Summit 44

The Lady Warriors came into the tournament as the second place finisher after dropping the tournament final to Hoxie, 56-53. EPC's opening opponent, the Lady Panthers of Yellville-Summit, had finished third in the 3A-1E tournament. They clearly showed from the opening whistle that it was not a fluke that they were in the regional tournament.

The Lady Panthers opened the scoring, taking a 2-0 lead in the first few seconds. It would be the only lead they would enjoy in the game, but for most of the first half, they stayed within two of tying the game.

EPC tied the game at 2-all when, after a Laporscha Williams shot bounced off the rim, Jordan Madden swept the rebound of the board and looped it back into the basket.

A few seconds later, Madden put the lady Warriors in front for good when she stole the ball and went the distance for the 4-2 lead. Madden, in fact, scored the first 10 points of the game for the Lady Warriors on the way to a game-high 34.

Williams got the last points of the quarter with a trey at the :25 mark, but, showing they were still alive, the Lady Panthers sent in a bomb of their own at the buzzer to close back to within two, 13-11.

Yellville-Summit opened the second quarter with the ball, but Madden once again made a heist and scored untouched. The Lady Panthers responded, though, with a three shot-three rebound flurry before finally hitting the basket to stay within two, 15-13.

The two teams exchanged goals, then at the 5:06 mark of the second, Madden hit another bucket, but Yellville-Summit followed it with a trey to close to within one, 19-18. With that three-pointer, it seemed as if the Lady Warriors suddenly decided to settle the matter and put the game in high gear.

EPC dropped in a quick seven points while the Lady Panthers could manage only two as the half ended with the Lady Warriors in the catbird seat, 26-20.

The third period proved to be EPC's best as they scored 19 to the Lady Panthers' 11. Williams made a clear statement who was better by hitting two treys to end the period with the Lady Warriors in charge, 47-31.

The final period was, as is often the case, long as the clock kept being stopped to let various Lady Warriors take foul shots, Yellville-Summit hoping they could work their way back in with shots off of misses. There weren't many misses, though.

In fact, down the stretch, EPC hit 11 of 14 shots from the line as they coasted to the 63-44 final.

"We hit our free throws when we had to," said coach Bobby Lewallen of the game. "We did a good job on defense and played like we were supposed to. We were a little sluggish at first, but got going just before the half. Overall, it was a good team effort."

Following Madden's high points were Williams with 16, Katelyn Armstrong and Jocelyn Joplin both with five and Carla Kemp with three.

For Yellville Summit, Hannah Terrice had 18 while Gail Martin score 13.

Marshall 56,

EPC 50

"We outscored them in the second half, but we just played bad in the first half and they got out in front by too much," said Lewallen of the Lady Warriors' second round game Saturday afternoon against defending state champion Marshall. "Then when we had to shoot free throws, we were only 8 of 18. We can't shoot like that and expect to win at this level. We have to be at our best once we get to this point."

Neither team scored for some three minutes as each seemed to be playing carelessly. Finally at 5:10 of the quarter, the Lady Bobcats hit home with their first trey for a 3-0 lead. Seconds later they followed it with another and EPC was in unfamiliar territory, down 6-0 early.

Williams responded with a basket for two and Marshall answered in kind then added a charity shot for a 9-2 advantage. Madden came back a field goal to close it to 9-4.

Marshall then went up 12-4 on a bucket and following foul shot.

Joplin hit a basket and Williams launched a trey with :40 left to bring the Lady Warriors back to within three, 12-9. EPC gave their opponents a pair of charity shots with :05 remaining, though, and they successfully hit them for a 14-9 lead at the first break.

The second quarter opened with Madden hitting three buckets in a row, Marshall responding with two free throws and a field goal to maintain the lead, 18-15.

At the 5:35 point of the quarter, Kemp stole a Marshall pass and went untouched for the bucket, drawing the foul in the process. Her game-tying foul shot glanced off the rim. She and the team lamented the miss, but what was worse was that her field goal represented the last points the Lady Warriors would score in the half.

Marshall, however, wasn't as equally silent as they scored 10 straight points, the last six coming on successive three-pointers. Suddenly, EPC found themselves in even more unfamiliar territory, being down by double figures, 28-17.

The third quarter saw both teams have their best scoring effort of the game, but the Lady Bobcats still outscored EPC by two, 19-17, to give them a 47-34 lead going into the final stanza.

Finally, the Lady Warrior defense began to close the gap in the final period as the shots began to fall off and the defense began to cause Marshall to make bad passes.

Two bad passes and a walk by the Lady Bobcats directly resulted in eight points for EPC and at 2:46 remaining, the Marshall lead had been cut to nine, 51-42.

Just when it looked as if the Lady Warriors might make a full recovery, though, Marshall hit for three to pull back up 53-42 with 2:00 remaining.

EPC closed out the half with an 8-3 run, but it wasn't enough to make up the difference as Marshall took the win, 56-50.

Madden had her customary high-point game with 30, while Williams followed with 14. Joplin, Armstrong and Kemp all finished the game with two.

Andrea Loggins and Westin Taylor led Marshall with 17 and 13 respectively.

EPC 55,

Hoxie 45

In the consolation game to decide the third and fourth place finishers, EPC got a measure of revenge Monday afternoon when they got the chance to match up with Hoxie once again. This time, the Lady Warriors took control of the game early and never looked back, winning 55-45 to gain a third place spot in the state tournament.

"We played pretty well," Lewallen said immediately afterward. "We did a lot better at the free throw line. You have to hit the free throws to win in the regional and especially in the state (tournaments). We strung some runs together and did what we had to do."

Madden opened the game with six straight points to go up early 6-2. Joplin and Williams hit for a couple of goals then Becca Ross got into the act. Largely silent offensively in the previous two games, Ross took charge of the post position and dropped in three straight buckets for six of the 13 points she would have on the night.

The Lady Warriors looked as if they were going to take a 20-9 after the first 8:00, but the Lady Mustangs managed a last-second trey to pull to within eight, 20-12.

EPC picked up where they left off in the first period and pushed out to a 25-12 lead in the first 2:30. Hoxie recovered somewhat, however, and ended the half on the low end of a 29-20 score.

Remembering that they had won their previous meeting, the Lady Mustangs were far from thinking they were out of it and proved a much early in the second half. On the strength of two three-pointers and a field goal, Hoxie pulled to within one trey, 31-28, with 5:00 left in the third.

They would get no closer, though, as the Lady Warriors responded point-for-point the remainder of the period to enter the fourth stanza in front, 39-36.

Kemp opened the quarter quickly, hitting a three off a Hoxie turnover. Madden and Ross then pumped in nine points between them to take a 51-38 lead. Hoxie's Megan Black, who would lead her team with 17, then scored six straight to close the Lady Mustangs back to within seven, 51-44.

Hoxie would get only one more point in the last 2:00, though, as the Lady Warriors avenged their earlier loss and gained the 55-45 win.

"When you get three players in double figures it makes you difficult to beat," concluded Lewallen. "I told the girls in the locker room that this is where we wanted to be, just three wins from playing in the state championship. It's good to get back to the state tournament. Defensively we played better, but we need to play better still because it's defense that wins state championships."

Along with Ross, both Madden and Williams were in double figures with 19 and 10 respectively. Joplin had six for the game, Kemp five and Armstrong two.

Hailey Barber had 13 for Hoxie.

Game time for the first round playoff game with England is set for 1 p.m. Thursday at Cave City.