Lady Bulldogs season ends in semifinals

Lady Bulldogs season ends in semifinals

The Earle Lady Bulldogs season came to a halt with a loss to Quitman in the 2A state semifinal round

sports@theeveningtimes.com

QUITMAN — The Earle Lady Bulldogs (25-4 overall) season came to an end this past weekend with a 49-44 loss to the Quitman Lady Bulldogs (32-3) in the semifinal round of the Girls 2A State Basketball Tournament.

Free throw opportunities made the difference for the Quitman team late, as Quitman knocked down 14 of 19 attempts from the charity stripe in the second half. In comparison, Earle shot only 6 free throws, connecting on 4 of those attempts. Earle played the entire fourth quarter in the double-bonus, helping Quitman find the charity stripe more often.

“They only scored two buckets in the fourth quarter,” Earle head coach Corey Garrett said. “The free throw line was the difference. But, nothing to complain about. That’s part of the game.”

The Earle ladies, who trailed 34-28 with 1:26 to go in the third stanza, strung together a late run to pull within a point of Quitman.

Laderyca Childs drew contact on a three-point attempt and with 7:02 left in the game knocked down 2 of 3 shots from the free throw line. Childs’ free throws ignited a 6-0 Earle run, and with five minutes of game time remaining the Earle team found themselves down a single point.

However, two baskets by Quitman’s Nicki Hooten allowed Quitman to build separation from the stingy Earle team and begin an 80 run which put Quitman ahead 43-36 with only 2:17 remaining.

Veronique Sanders and RoShala Scott added a three-ball apiece as time wound down. However, the offensive production proved to be too little and too late to pull the Earle ladies back into the contest before the final buzzer sounded on the game and their season.

Earle led the game most of the first half and clung onto a 23-21 lead at the halftime break. However, just over two minutes into the third stanza, Reagan Rackley converted a pass from Braleigh Foley into a basket that would put the Quitman ladies ahead for good.

Rackley, who finished the game with 16 points, presented a matchup problem for Earle in the paint all night.

“We knew it would be a problem,” Garrett said. “She’s big, strong and has good moves inside. So, we already knew that it would be a challenge to kind of stop her.”

Quitman’s Rieley Hooten tied Earle’s Scott with 18 points to lead all scorers.

Sanders had the only other double digit scoring effort for Earle, pumping in 14 points.

The loss to Quitman caps an Earle Lady Bulldogs season which saw the team win 12 consecutive games spanning from January 5th through February 18th.

“Things just didn’t go our way today,” Garrett said. “We just had an off game. It was the wrong day to have a bad performance.”

While the Earle ladies season ends, their counterpart in the Earle guys team continues its play this Thursday in the 2A state tournament. The Bulldogs tip off against Marked Tree in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Thursday at 8:45 p.m.

By Collins Peeples