MOUNT IDA -- Mountain Pine's varsity girls reached the state tournament and .500 on the same day.
Jordan Godwin and Hailee Crosby personally outscored Clarendon by three as the Lady Red Devils upset the 2A-6 champion 45-34 in the Class 2A East Region here Thursday.
Mountain Pine (11-11) survived a two-point third quarter to punch its ticket to the region semifinals and next week's state tournament at Pangburn. The Lady Red Devils entered with 2A-5's No. 4 seed after defeating Ouachita and losing to host England in the 2A-5 district tournament last week.
Godwin scored 21 points and Crosby 16 for Mountain Pine, which led 32-14 at halftime but only 34-28 after three quarters. The Lady Red Devils made 13 of 16 free throws.
Defensively, said first-year coach Jamie Williams, "We took away (Clarendon's) transition game. They don't shoot well from outside, so we just packed the lane against them."
Mountain Pine, in its first region tournament since 2008, plays the winner of today's 4 p.m. Carlisle-Magnet Cove game at noon Saturday. Seedings for the state tournament will be determined Sunday in consolation games at 1 p.m. (girls) and 2:15 p.m. and championship games at 3:30 p.m. (girls) and 4:45 p.m.
Other first-round games today are Augusta boys vs. Poyen at 5:30 p.m., Hazen girls vs. Poyen at 7 p.m. and Brinkley vs. Mount Ida boys at 8:30 p.m. A championship or consolation matchup between boys teams coached by brothers Tad and Blue Kesterson (Mount Ida vs. Poyen) is possible.
* Kuper Swaims' layup with 1.1 seconds left gave Haskell Harmony Grove a 53-52 upset victory over top seed Harding Academy in the Class 3A Region 3 tournament in Rose Bud.
Harmony Grove, seeded fourth from 3A-5, rallied from a 29-15 halftime deficit for what first-year Cardinal coach Jeff Hogue, posting on Facebook, called a "win (that) ranks right up there with any I have (been) a part of." Harding was top seed from 3A-2.
The Cardinals play today's 5:30 p.m. Jessieville-Marianna winner in the semifinals at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
Jessieville's second-seeded girls play third-seeded Rose Bud at 4 p.m. today,
Sports on 02/27/2015