The Wilcox-Central Lady Jaguars kept it close in the first half, but the No. 10 Keith Lady Bears controlled the second half on their way to a 62-46 win in the championship game of the Dallas County Christmas Tournament Saturday at Wallace.

Cecil Williams, head girls basketball coach of Keith (12-2, ranked No. 10 in Class 1A), said the Lady Bears got things on track in the second half after a rough start.

“We started off very bad in the first half. Second half, we kind of picked it up and got it going defensively and offensively,” Williams said. “Defense is what really helped us out in the second half.”

The Lady Bears held only a 29-26 lead at halftime, but opened the third quarter on fire, as ZyKia Pettway and Harriet Winchester scored the first two baskets of the quarter before Stephanie Carson hit a 3-pointer that helped put Keith up by double digits at 37-28 with 4:33 left.

Rachel Madison scored on a layup for the Lady Jaguars (6-2) to cut it back to single digits at 37-30, but Keith responded by outscoring Wilcox 14-3 the remainder of the third quarter, as they entered the fourth leading 51-33.

Wilcox only got as close as 13 points the remainder of the game.

Winchester had 16 points for Keith, while Lyteisha Phillips had 15 points and Pettway had 13 points for the Lady Bears.

Kalisa Mendenhall led Wilcox with 19 points.

 

Lady Panthers 37, Lady Hornets 24

The Southside Lady Panthers were able to pull away in the fourth quarter for a 37-24 win over the rival Dallas County Lady Hornets on Saturday in the third-place game of the Dallas County Christmas Tournament.

Jason Bothwell, head girls basketball coach of Southside (6-7), said the Lady Panthers played at a comfortable pace in Saturday’s win.

“It was a win, and we always like to win. I think we found some strong points in this game. We found a pace that we’re comfortable playing in that allows us to do a lot of things,” Bothwell said. “That’s a good thing about tournament play. You can find some things within your team that can help you in the regular season, and I think we found stuff today in this particular win that’s going to help us down the road.”

Southside led 15-11 at half and extended its lead to 21-15 going into the fourth.

The Lady Panthers pushed the lead to double digits early in the fourth, as Sharmynn Anderson, Ki’Onna Likely, Ashley Cunningham and Tanisha Blevins scored baskets that put the score at 29-17 with 6:24 left.

De’Undria Boggs scored 4 points in the fourth for Dallas County (7-9), but the Lady Hornets couldn’t cut the lead down to single digits.

Cunningham led the Lady Panthers with 14 points, while Likely had 12 points for Southside.

Boggs led Dallas County with 16 points.

The girls all-tournament team includes Boggs and Camisha Moore of Dallas County, Likely and Chelsea Arnold of Southside, Mendenhall and Rikisha Bridges of Wilcox, Phillips and Dasheena Thomas of Keith.

Winchester was the tournament most valuable player.