Lady Devils fall in state quarterfinals

By BILLY WOODS

WM School District

SHERIDAN — The fastest player on the court had exactly 4.8 seconds to cover 94 feet. No problem for the diminutive but electrifying Janiyah Tucker.

Just a couple of seconds earlier, Greenwood’s Abby Summitt splashed a high-arcing 3-pointer over the outstretched arms of Clemisha Prackett to give her team a 47-46 lead.

Tucker and the West Memphis Lady Devils had no time to pout, though.

Tucker easily flew by backcourt pressure from Greenwood and got a clear look at the basket from 12 feet inside the lane.

The ball rolled off the rim and the Lady Devils’ march to the Class 5A state title was snuffed out.

Greenwood 47, West Memphis 46.

Thursday night’s quarterfinal state tournament game was a classic heavyweight competition that was worthy of championship status.

But the ending for West Memphis was heartbreaking.

“Our girls left it all out on the court,” said a disheartened West Memphis head coach Erica Leak. “They played their hearts out. We are disappointed in the outcome, though.” It was a back-and-forth affair that saw the largest lead of the game at seven points, which Greenwood held at 36-29 with 5:36 to play in the fourth quarter.

West Memphis (19-7) led at halftime 22-21 and the best part about it was not one single Lady Devil was in foul trouble. This, coming after the West Memphis girls were whistled with 24 fouls the previous afternoon with two starters fouling out in a first-round game.

There was slight controversy following Tucker’s last-second attempt.

Referees convened after the final buzzer, leading Leak to think her point guard was fouled on the play. However, the call would have been a charge on Tucker.

Which, as you might imagine, was most upsetting to Leak and the rest of the Lady Devils.

“Yes, we thought Tuck was hacked,” said Leak, who protested for several seconds after the call was made. “We thought the call should have gone our way, but it didn’t. It’s very disappointing” The loss wiped out any chance for the Lady Devils to face Crittenden County rival Marion in the semifinals. Marion plays Jacksonville at 1 p.m. Friday in a semifinal game.

The winner of that game will face Greenwood at noon on Saturday in a semifinal contest.

Twice with less than a minute to play in the game, it looked like a West Memphis winner.

With 38 seconds to play in the game, sophomore Aniya Price, who scored 11 points, swished a 3-pointer to give her team a 44-42 lead.

But Greenwood’s Mady Cartwright, who led all scorers with 27 points, converted two free throws on the other end to tie the game.

But once again, the Lady Devils got a clutch play from a veteran, this time a rebound basket from junior center Clemisha Prackett, who had 13 points and 11 rebounds, gave her club a 46-44 lead with just 14 seconds left.

Prackett came within inches of swatting Summitt’s 3-point try. The only thing that kept her from doing so was Summitt’s extra high loft she put on the shot.

But it found nothing but net.

“We made a mistake on that inbounds play,” Leak admitted. “We were too far up (in the backcourt) on the throwin. We didn’t have enough defenders on the other end. (Summitt) was open.”

Leak said her team’s defense wasn’t selling out to stop Cartwright.

“No, we know all their players can shoot the three,” she added. “We wanted all of them covered. But we left one open in the corner.”

The Lady Devils showed great resilience, twice coming back from small deficits when it looked like Greenwood was about to seize control of the game and put the West Memphians away.

They trailed 29-24 with 1:43 to play in the third quarter and then the seven-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter felt like it was larger than that.

But back-to-back 3-balls from Tucker, who led West Memphis in scoring with16 points, put them within a point.

Then, Prackett made a layup off a nifty feed from Tucker to give the Lady Devils a 37-36 lead with 4:19 to play.

Just over 24 hours after scoring 22 points and gathering 18 rebounds, West Memphis freshman Tyra Taylor was held to 3 points against Greenwood, although she did grab 9 rebounds.

Tucker added 5 rebounds and 3 assists to her evening.

Anna Trusty pumped in an additional 9 points for Greenwood while Summitt totaled 8.