PRESCOTT -- Never trailing, Centerpoint dominated on both ends of the court Friday morning at Prescott Sports Arena to take down Dumas 47-33 in the semifinals of the Class 3A Region 4 tournament.
After beginning the game on a 7-0 run, Centerpoint (20-5, 11-3 3A-7) claimed 26-9 lead at intermission.
The Lady Bobcats (9-7, 4-3 3A-8) were first to answer in the second half as freshman Kyla Madden nailed an early 3-pointer before Centerpoint junior Marlee Bright drove inside for a bucket. After junior Monika Flores connected with senior Sade Killip for a jumpshot, the Lady Knights led 30-12 with just 2:30 off the clock in the second half.
Dumas answered with its biggest run of the game as senior forward Samya Smith hit a layup, and junior Myesha Hudson followed up with a putback after grabbing two offensive rebounds on the possession. The Lady Bobcats went on an 7-0 run before Killip hit Bright on the assist in the final seconds for a 36-19 lead.
Centerpoint head coach John Bright said blocking out made a big difference in the game.
"We did an OK job on that," he said. "We're a small team besides two (players), but we did a pretty good job on blocking out. We were able to get scores when we needed them, and that was our main focus, in blocking out."
Slowing the tempo of the game in the final eight minutes to drain the clock, Killip hit a 3-pointer as Hudson answered with a shot in the paint. Bright helped close out the win in the final minutes with several shots from the line, hitting her last two with 15.3 seconds left to cap the win.
Dumas head coach Glory Slater noted after the game that their slow start is what did them in.
"Well I just feel like they were more aggressive than we were," she said. "In the first quarter -- that's where we lost, was in the first quarter -- they scored, I think it was 19. ... That's probably the most aggressive team that we played this year, but out of all the games that we've had, I didn't fuss at (the players) as much with this game because they came back and they tried to get aggressive with them, and they did not stop. They did not quit, and if they would start and play me four quarters like they did the last three, and especially the last half, you know, we could play with that team. ... There was one time in the fourth quarter that, maybe a couple minutes, we were down by 12, but if we played that way in the first quarter there would be a difference. But I was really pleased with them overall."
Bright and Killip led Centerpoint with 14 points each. Bright also had five rebounds, four assists and three steals while Killip added four boards with a steal and an assist. Flores had 7 points, three rebounds, a pair of steals and a pair of assists, senior Cheyenne Lambert had 4 points, two steals, two assists and two rebounds, junior Ella Spray had 4 points and three boards, and senior Emily Balliette had 2 points with five boards, a pair of blocks and a steal.
Smith and Madden led the way for Dumas with 8 points each, Smith adding five rebounds, three steals and an assist. Hudson had 7 points, nine boards and three steals, sophomore MaDyson McKinzie had 5 points with one board, freshman Sha'kyra Chaffin had 2 points and a steal, freshman Kaniya Culclager had 2 points and junior Jamare McFarley had 1 point with five rebounds and one steal.
Centerpoint will play for the regional championship today at 4 p.m. against Ashdown.