Despite a slow first half, Lakeside's junior high boys sealed the deal against Camden Fairview late in the third period Monday and took home a 43-34 win in the semifinals of the 5A-South district tournament at Hot Springs.
A 14-4 run in the third quarter sent the junior Rams into the final quarter ahead, 29-19.
"It was really sloppy. For some reason, we were on our heels the whole first half," said Lakeside junior high coach Cody Lambert. "We still didn't play great in the second half, but we played good enough to win."
Jamison Craig put the Rams on the board first in the opening period with a quick layup. Taevon Johnson added a free point late in the quarter, but the junior Cardinals responded with a 3-pointer to end the quarter down, 9-8.
The score was knotted at 15-all after the first half.
"At halftime, we went into the locker room and one of our players, Steven Cummins, is chewing everyone out," said Lambert. "He's the one that comes in and gets two charges, then gets rebounds and scores. His energy is why we won the game."
Going into the next round of the tournament, Lambert said his team will have to play better than they did Monday night. The junior Rams will take on second-seeded Magnolia on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. inside Trojan Fieldhouse.
"Magnolia is really good," Lambert said. "They don't have off or bad nights. In order for us to beat them Thursday, we're going to have to have two really good days of practice."
Craig tallied 13 points and grabbed three rebounds. Johnson had eight points and five assists.
Girls
Lakeside's junior high girls' basketball team took down Hope, 36-13, Monday night to secure a spot in the 5A-South district tournament final on Thursday.
Sarah Porter buried two buckets from behind the 3-point line midway through the first quarter to spark a 20-2 run over the junior Lady Bobcats.
Mady Davenport added a trey in the opening period and tallied 13 points overall. Porter collected 11 points and Maddie Goodson had four points.
With 44 seconds remaining before the break, Hope scored their first field goal for a two-point score. The junior Lady Rams (18-3) still held Hope to only four points in the second period as they secured the lead, 31-6, on an 11-4 run.
Lakeside failed to score in the third quarter, but it came out on top as the junior Lady Rams allowed only three points by Hope.
Top-seeded Lakeside will meet the No. 2 seed, Magnolia, in the district final on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Trojan Fieldhouse.
* Magnolia ended the season Monday for the Hot Springs junior high girls, 40-25, in the semifinals of the 5A-South district tournament.
Tamia Dolls added two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter as Hot Springs trimmed the gap to 33-21.
"Overall, I think we had a slow start and then we had spurts in there to where we made some good things happen," said Hot Springs junior high coach Keysha Hill. "We didn't come prepared. We didn't come ready to play."
Magnolia went on a 12-6 run in the opening period. The score was 23-10 in Magnolia's favor at the half.
"I'm proud of this group as a whole," said Hill. "I feel like they've come a long way this season, but the biggest thing now is growth and getting in the gym during offseason to get better.
"We're preaching development. This season is over, but what's next?"
Hot Springs failed to close the gap in the third as the junior Lady Trojans trailed the junior Lady Panthers, 29-15.
"A lot of the ninth-graders are gone," Hill said. "They're trying to play up and play high school ball, so getting them prepared and the eighth-graders for ninth grade next year is preparation.
"I've seen all of the girls grow in different ways, whether it's offensively or defensively. We had some players come out of their shell after being timid at the beginning of the season. As a team, they have grown a lot. I wish we had more time."
Sports on 02/13/2019