Junction City sweeps Buckaroo event

SMACKOVER - Smackover showed the makings of a bright future.

Junction City showed Saturday, its bright future is right now.

The Lady Dragons outlasted the feisty Lady Buckaroos 58-37 in the championship game of the Buckaroo Holiday Tournament.

Junction City, which improved to 4-1, showed off its depth, speed and size, fighting through foul trouble before pulling away in the final period.

"It feels real good. We were able to come over here and win. I'm proud of the effort of the girls," said Junction City coach Henry Harrell. "We had six that went up to Hot Springs to compete in the cheer competiton. They won state and when they came back, they were over-hyped, I guess. But, we settled down in the second half and won. I'm proud of the effort of everybody that played."

The Lady Dragons, who will be a heavy favorite to win the 7AA-East this season, showed off in the backcourt as Jyrezhia Nathan, Nikayla Fisher and Camya Hamilton combined for 34 points, seven assists and five steals. This despite both Nathan and Fisher picking up three fouls apiece in the first half. Fisher was tagged with her fourth just two minutes into the third.

Hamilton gave the Lady Dragons a lift off the bench. The sophomore tallied seven points with three assists.

"That was real big," said Harrell. "Fisher picked up her fourth foul in the third quarter and Hamilton came in and played big for us, which I knew she could do. We don't lose that much between those two. But, it's always nice to have (Fisher) on the floor."

Nathan led Junction City with 15 points and three assists. Fisher finished with 12 points and three steals.

"The key was our guard play and our post play down low. I think we neutralized their bigs. We decided to let them shoot it and not get beat off the dribble to the goal," said Harrell, whose defense held Smackover's Sharnes McGhee to 12 points.

"I noticed the other night that if we let them run their offense to the left side, we'd be more successful. We tried to keep her going to the left as much as possible. They did a good job of doing that."

McGhee kept the Lady Bucks in the game early. The sophomore scored seven as Smackover trailed just 12-10 late in the first. The Lady Dragons built a 20-14 lead before Nathan erupted with three straight jump shots. Samantha Meadows scored inside and then hit a free throw for a 29-14 lead with 1:43 left in the second.

Smackover whittled the deficit to 12 at the half.

Junction City's depth and athleticism was persistent, however, as the lead swelled to 37-21. The Lady Bucks got a boost from the bench from Mallory Brewer, who hit a pair of jumpers to spark an 8-4 spurt and cut the lead to 41-29 going into the fourth.

But, the Lady Dragons hit the gas pedal. Chakeenia Malone scored inside and then scored again off an assist by Hamilton. Kaitlyn Goodwin scored for Smackover but Fisher hit a short jumper before Nathan's 3-pointer gave the Lady Dragons an insurmountable 19-point lead with 5:14 remaining.

"The girls played pretty hard," said Smackover coach Tripper Rowton. "This was our fourth game this week. Our legs were kind of tired. We couldn't make shots underneath the basket. That was really the thing that killed us in the game - not being able to make shots underneath the basket. We rebounded pretty well, played pretty good defense at times. But, not being able to make those shots under the basket was pretty disappointing."

McGhee scored 12 with four boards and two assists as Smackover fell to 4-6 on the season. Brewer added

10. Goodwin contributed seven points and eight rebounds and Makenzie Malone scored six with six rebounds.

Chakeenia Malone finished with eight points and six boards for Junction City. Ashley Gibson grabbed seven boards.

"I'm proud of the girls, proud of our fans coming out and supporting us," said Harrell. "I hope everybody comes out to Dual State. It should be an exciting tournament."