Bouncing back from a humbling 69-31 loss to Watson Chapel in the semifinals on Thursday, the Lakeside Lady Rams closed the 5A-South conference tournament on a high note Friday afternoon.
Lakeside (20-9) buried six 3-pointers in the first half and outscored De Queen (19-9) 31-17 in the second half for a convincing 61-45 win in the third-place game at Trojan Fieldhouse.
"We just talked about our energy level and how we wanted our energy to be really good," Lakeside coach Chris Brock said. "It's easy to get down after somebody thumps you, but I just thought our kids really played hard early and we kind of got in the flow early."
Lakeside took control in the first quarter on the strength of its outside shot. Ashton Patrick buried two 3-pointers, while Chloe Porter and Thea Rice each hit one shot from behind the arc.
"Sometimes, all it takes is one shot, and it doesn't even matter who it is," said Brock. "If we just make one, then all of the sudden we can get a little burst going. I was really proud of our kids for stepping up and doing what they needed to do."
A 9-0 run gave the Lady Rams an early 11-5 advantage, but the Lady Leopards got four points from Josie Burke to pull within 14-10 at the end of the opening period.
Held without a basket in the first quarter, De Queen's Ashley Dykes found her groove in the second frame. The junior guard scored seven straight points to bring the Lady Leopards within 20-19 midway through the period, but Lakeside's Abby Mahoney recorded six points of her own as the Lady Rams pushed their lead back to 27-21.
After a 7-0 run by the Lady Leopards, Rice beat the buzzer with a deep 3-pointer to give Lakeside a 30-28 lead at the half.
An offensive adjustment allowed Lakeside to take its lead to new heights in the third quarter. After lighting it up with six treys in the first half, the Lady Rams chose to take it inside in the second half.
Mahoney, Rice and Porter combined for 11 points in the paint or at the free throw line as Lakeside pushed its lead to 46-34 at the end of the third quarter.
"They came out and tried to play a little man (defense) in the second half, and we did a good job with our positioning and keeping our eyes up," said Brock. "I thought we got out on the break a little more too. Abby did a great job of getting down the floor, and getting in front of them as much as she could."
While the Lady Rams broke out with 16 points in the third period, De Queen was held to just six points on two made field goals.
"We were trying to make every shot they take a contested one," Brock said. "We know how good they shoot the three, so the game plan was trying to make the other ones make tough twos and try to play their post players one-on-one. Not getting in foul trouble was the key. We were able to defend without fouling, so they didn't get any cheap points at the line."
A 3-pointer by Maddie Martin and four quick points from Burke had the Lady Leopards within 48-41 early in the fourth quarter, but Lakeside came right back with a 7-0 run to take control for good.
Burke paced De Queen with 16 points and Dykes added 10 points, all in the first half. Patrick led all scorers with 20 points for the Lady Rams, including four shots from behind the arc.
"When she gets hot on offense, she can really go," said Brock. "Even when she's making threes, when she attacks and mixes in the floater or gets to the free throw line, it just makes her even better."
Rice finished with 18 points for Lakeside and Mahoney scored 14 points. The Lady Rams will face the 5A-West No. 2 seed at 1 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the Class 5A state tournament at Maumelle High School.
"We know that if we play the way we're capable of, we have a chance against whoever we play," Brock said. "Our focus will be on playing defensively the best that we can. We have to be locked in on every trip to beat anybody at the state tournament. We hope we can keep shooting it good, but if we just lock in defensively every trip, we have a chance."
Sports on 02/24/2018