Lady Bison rout Brinkley, advance to district tourney finals

Carlisle's Arius McClain drives to the basket during the first half of the Lady Bison's win over Brinkley in the district tournament Friday night. (Photos by Mark Buffalo)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

@markbuffalo

PALESTINE — The Carlisle Lady Bison are one step away from reclaiming the 2A-6 district championship.

Carlisle jumped out to a 14-0 lead on Brinkley en route to a 53-25 win over the Lady Tigers in the semifinals of the 2A-6 district tournament Friday night.  The Lady Bison will play Clarendon in the finals Saturday at 5 p.m. The two teams split, winning on their home courts, both finishing 17-1 in conference play.

Carlisle, which is 19-7, last won the district tournament in 2012, beating Augusta in the finals. 

"It's great to be in the finals after not making it last year," Carlisle coach Jonathan Buffalo said. "But just making it is not enough. We want another championship and the one seed in the regional. We want to make it to the state tournament."

In the win over Brinkley, Carlisle led 14-0 with 3:16 left in the first quarter following a outback by Kylie Warren. The Lady Bison led 16-2 after one quarter and 29-11 at halftime.

The Lady Bison put the game away in the third quarter. Arius McClain scored 14 of her game-high 19 points in the third quarter. Waren scored four while NicQuira Burnett and Elex McClain had two points each.

In addition Arius McClain's 19 points, Warren had 11. Elex McClain scored five. Peyton Hitchings and Burnett had four each. Nikita Harper and Blakely Ellis had three points each. Kiara Miller added two.

Peyton Hitchings is fouled while driving to the basket against Brinkley.