OLA -- Tears were shed in Jessieville's locker room, and not just by the players, after the Lady Lions' final basketball game this season.
Not that Paris (19-9, 8-6) required a last-second shot to win their second-round game in the Class 3A-Region 4 tournament Tuesday. The Lady Eagles punched their ticket to next week's 3A-2 regional tournament at Perryville with a 58-39 victory, their third and most decisive against Jessieville (14-14, 5-9) this season.
Putting away the fifth-seeded Lady Lions after a first-round bye, No. 4 seed Paris meets top seed and tournament host Two Rivers (21-6, 13-1) in the semifinals at 4 p.m. today. Fountain Lake's boys (22-5, 11-3), seeded second, play in the semifinals at 7:45 p.m., possibly against Jessieville (19-7, 10-4), which hoped to secure a region berth in Tuesday's late game.
Their hopes revived after routing Fountain Lake (5-23, 0-14) in the tournament opener Monday, the Lady Lions fell behind, 6-0, and trailed, 22-7, after one quarter, 33-12 at halftime. After hearing from coach Magen Scrivner at halftime, the Lady Lions pulled within 13 late in the third quarter before falling back.
Though Paris' lead reached 23, Jessieville scored the last four points, an Amy de Haas basket allowing Scrivner to say accurately, "We outscored them in the second half."
But the four-quarter effort needed on most nights this late in the season was missing from a Jessieville team that finished .500.
"I was mad at halftime," a moist-eyed Scrivner said outside Jessieville's locker room after it was over. "I told them that they've got to play harder and with more pride in the name that's on their jersey,"
Jaidyn Fortenberry, for one, took her coach's admonition to heart with a strong third quarter. Scoring on a pass from Lexi Bassett, Fortenberry completed a three-point play and later got Scrivner off the bench, clapping, with a putback basket that made it 40-27.
Paris scored seven straight points before Bassett, in her final Jessieville game, hit a three. Another three, by de Haas, made it 53-33, the difference shrinking to 18 on a basket by Lilliana Fehrenbacher before Paris scored the next five points.
"What I was so upset about halftime," Scrivner said, "is that they're not 20 points better than us. We beat them by one point on a buzzer shot last year."
De Haas scored 16 points, Fortenberry eight and Fehrenbacher six for the Lady Lions, who played Paris within three points at Jessieville Sports Arena.
Sports on 02/13/2019