A fast start on Friday lifted Lakeside's senior high girls to their first 5A-South conference victory of the season against Texarkana at the Lakeside Athletic Complex.
The Lady Rams (14-4, 1-4) took a 17-8 lead in the first quarter en route to a 68-41 win. Head coach Chris Brock said the team shot better from the outside against Texarkana (8-11, 0-5) after a securing a rare lead in conference play.
"Everybody would love to play with a lead, but we jumped out early and played from ahead," Brock said. "I think we got in a better rhythm.
"I think everybody goes through stretches where they don't shoot it well. Those last couple of games that we lost, our turnover numbers were low. They were 10 or below, which is what we want it to be. If we are getting shots but just missing, eventually we are going to start shooting the way we can shoot again."
Junior guard Chloe Porter paced Lakeside with 10 points in the opening quarter and 17 in the first half. She was the game's leading scorer with 23 points.
"She always makes plays for us with the ball," Brock said. "Sometimes, people play her and Ash a little differently, a little tighter. I always want her to be aggressive. I thought her shot was on and we did a good job of locating her when she was open.
"She is learning to use her screens better and learning to cut with a purpose away from the ball. That is something we have harped on lately. She has the ball a lot, but there are a lot of times when she is away from it that she has to relocate or cut super hard to make sure she is going to get a good look when she catches the ball."
Senior guard Ashton Patrick picked up the scoring the in second half, scoring 11 points in the third quarter with three 3-pointers in the frame. She finished with 20 points in the game.
Lakeside was one of two teams in Class 5A to enter the spring semester with an undefeated record. The Lady Rams were 13-0 and Sheridan was 12-0 to start conference play.
Both teams lost in their conference openers on Jan. 4. The Lady Rams lost, 57-40, at El Dorado (13-4, 4-1), while Sheridan (16-1, 4-1) was beaten, 55-47, at Lake Hamilton (10-6, 3-2).
The Lady Yellowjackets have since won four games in a row, while Lakeside lost three more before Friday night's win. Brock said the Lady Rams averaged about 30-percent shooting for several games.
"We were not getting bad looks, but I think we took a little bit better shots on a whole and got a few easy scores in transition," Brock said. "They pressed us, and I thought that helped us. It spread them out and got us a few easy shots."
Brock said he was happy with how the team played in a 42-38 loss at Benton (11-7, 4-1) on Jan. 11. He said the team also played well at times in a 63-46 home loss to Sheridan on Tuesday.
"We are not turning the ball over a bunch, but we will have a couple of key ones that will lead to baskets," Brock said. "We didn't do that. That is just a key thing to us because the teams we play are so athletic and so big."
Sophomore forward Maddie Trusty added six points on Friday and classmate Adachi Igbokidi led the team with nine rebounds. Porter and sophomore point guard Erika Bittinger made four assists apiece.
Senior Cedriana Daniels led a balanced scoring effort for Texarkana with nine points. Senior forward Jayla Easter scored eight points, while freshman guard Jamyia Montgomery and senior guard Kiara Young each scored seven. Sophomore Z'niah Nelson scored all six of her points in a 16-point frame for the Lady Razorbacks.
Sheridan led Lakeside, 30-26, at halftime on Tuesday.
"We did not shoot it well, kind of like we have not shot it well lately," Brock said. "We missed a lot of free throws, but we really did not play bad."
Patrick led Lakeside with 14 points. Porter had nine points and five steals.
Senior forward Miller Dickerson scored six points and grabbed five rebounds. Senior guard Lindsey Davis hit two 3-pointers for six points.
Only four teams from each conference in 5A will qualify for the state tournament Feb. 26 through March 2 at Wolf Arena in Pearcy. Classes 5A and 6A do not compete in district and regional tournaments like classes 1A-4A. Qualification for state is determined by regular season conference standings.
Benton, El Dorado and Sheridan are tied for the conference lead with Hot Springs (8-7, 4-1), which picked up its first 5A-South defeat, 38-23, on Friday at Benton. Lake Hamilton was 3-0 a week ago and now sits in fifth place at 3-2. Lakeside is in sixth place ahead of Texarkana and J.A. Fair (1-14, 0-5).
"We cannot worry about the big picture," Brock said. "We have to worry about the little picture. We are worrying about things that are going to make us better every day. Defensively, we are focusing on trying to angle for block outs, being physical on block outs and trying to rebound the ball."
Brock said Lakeside's rebounding also dropped off to start conference play.
"When you are not shooting the ball well and you are getting outrebounded, that is a problem," Brock said. "We have really tried to work on us and things that can directly help us. If we can be even rebounding-wise, we feel like we are eventually going to shoot it like we can. We are working on little things from day-to-day.
"The big picture will take care of itself. If we can play like we are capable of playing, we will be right in the mix. We just have to play the schedule we have and play the way we can. The way we do that is by taking it a day at a time and working on things we have to get better at. If we do that, we will be successful."
Lakeside is scheduled to travel to Fair Tuesday before hosting Hot Springs on Friday.
Sports on 01/20/2019