Jr. Lady Jackrabbits finish as district tourney runner-up after winning regular-season 4A-2 title

The Lonoke Junior Lady Jackrabbits are the runners-up in the 4A-2 district tournament. (Photos by Mark Buffalo)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

lonokecountysports@gmail.com

NEWPORT — The Lonoke Junior Lady Jackrabbits did all they could but came up one point short in the finals of the 4A-2 district tournament.

Southside Batesville beat top seed Lonoke 37-36 in double overtime on Saturday night. Lonoke ends the season as the regular-season conference champion and the district tournament runner-up. 

The score was tied 29-29 at the of regulation. Lonoke led 34-31 following two free throws by Mickenzie Williams with 33.7 seconds left. Newport's Kassidy Barnt hit a three-pointer with 25 seconds left to tie the game at 34-34. Lonoke had a chance to win it but Mia Brown missed an 18-foot jumper at the buzzer.

In the second overtime, Lonoke led 36-34 following a basket by Keiunna Walker with 2:34 left. The score remained the same until Barnt banked in a three-pointer with 46 seconds left to give Southside a 37-36 lead.

Lonoke had several chances to win in the final seconds. 

Walker missed a short jumper with 25 seconds left. The two teams traded turnovers with Lonoke's coming with 6.7 seconds left.

After a Southside timeout, the Lady Southerners took the ball out of bounds. An official handed the ball to a Southside player before the timeout timer on the scoreboard had been reset. The officials did not catch the error and Southside turned the ball over and Lonoke's Kaley Woodruff was fouled with 2.7 seconds left.

She missed both free throws. Lonoke's Deria Allen rebounded the second miss and her putback attempted rimmed out as time expired.

Walker led Lonoke with 14 points. Williams had 11. Woodruff added 6. Scoring 2 each were Maddie Pool, Kennedy White and Allen.

Barnt led all scores with 20 points. Taylor Hammock added 12 points for Southside.

Lonoke looked to cruise early in the game, leading 11-6 after one quarter and 15-10 at halftime. White then hit 2 free throws early in the second half to give the Junior Lady Jackrabbits a 17-10 lead.

Southside the scored next 8 points to lead 18-17. Lonoke scored the final four points of the quarter to lead 21-18 heading into the fourth quarter.

Southside led 28-25 with 1:26 left in the fourth quarter. Pool and Walker each scored 2 points as Lonoke took a 29-28 lead. 

Southside tied the game at 29-29 before Woodruff missed a short jumper at the buzzer.

Lonoke's Keiunna Walker drives to the basket in the fourth quarter against Southside Batesville.