Lady Rabbits get big win, rout e-Stem 50-32 in regular-season finale

Lonoke's Jarrelyn McCall surveys the floor during the Lady Jackrabbits' win over e-Stem on Friday. (Photos by Mark Buffalo)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

lonokecountysports@gmail.com

LITTLE ROCK — The Lonoke Lady Jackrabbits played one of their best games of the season Friday night, beating e-Stem 50-32 in the regular-season finale at Philander Smith College.

Lonoke, the defending 4A-2 district tournament champions, will be the fifth seed in the 4A-2 district tournament next week at the Gina Cox Center in Lonoke.

"I think it's got to be our best win of the year," Lonoke coach Nathan Morris said. "That's a high quality win over a good basketball team."

Lonoke will need to win two games in the district tournament to qualify for the Class 4A-East Region tournament, which will be held in two weeks at Trumann High School. 

"We're still going to take it one game at a time," Morris said. "But they know they've got to win two games to go. You can't go if you don't win the first one."

Morris did not know who the opponent would be, saying it could be Helena-West Helena Central, Newport or Stuttgart. The game is set for Tuesday at 4 p.m.

"They played us all close and two of them have beaten us," he said. 

In Friday's win over e-Stem, Lonoke led 15-12 at the end of the first quarter but trailed 24-23 at halftime.

Lonoke's Kerasha Johnson hit 1 of 2 free throws and Jarrelyn McCall hit a jumper to give the Lady Jackrabbits a 27-24 lead.

The Lady Mets cut the deficit to 27-26 with 6:43 left in the third quarter. McCall then scored four in a row to ignite a 15-0 run, which gave Lonoke a 42-26 lead with 41 seconds left in the third quarter.

Lonoke's largest lead was 20 points at 48-28 and 50-30. The Lady Jackrabbits outscored e-Stem 27-8 in the second half.

E-Stem's Gia Hayes scored 17 points in the first half but did not score in the second half.

"We played defense well," Morris said. 

McCall led Lonoke with 24 points. Eboni Willis scored 10. Amanda Sexton had 9. Johnson scored 5 while Ashlyn Allen had 2.

Lonoke's Kerasha Johnson attempts a free throw against e-Stem.