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Jonesboro stays hot by throttling Sheridan in 5A state tournament

The defending Class 5A state champions have won 13 in a row.

By Kyle Sutherland I Photos by Ted McClenning

SHERIDAN - It was nearly a clean sweep for blowout games on Day 2 of the Class 5A state tournament with the Arkansas Activities Association sportsmanship rule being enforced in two of the three girls games beginning with East top seed Jonesboro (20-6) thrashing Sheridan 68-33 on their home court.

The Sheridan student section was giving it to the Lady Hurricane during shootaround and based on the smiling reactions by Jonesboro, it seemed to add fuel to the fire on what was about to happen.

One of those smiles came from post Destiny Thomas, a University of Memphis signee, who was unstoppable from the tip earning a double-double in the first quarter and continued to dominate the paint for the remainder of the time she was on the floor.

The game started off a little ragged with fouls and turnovers, but Jonesboro got out to a 7-6 lead then, went on a 17-2 run to end the first quarter and did not slow down from there.

Down 39-18 after halftime, Sheridan (11-13) continued to play, but anything and everything they did Jonesboro had an answer for or just completely shut it down.

“We just have a good core group of kids,” Jonesboro Coach Jodi Christenberry told the Arkansas Sports Network during the postgame. “Bottom line is, we tend to wear people down so that by the third and fourth quarter we have control of the game. It all boils down to I have a great point guard, a great post player, and a bunch of kids around them.”

Jonesboro, the defending Class 5A state champions, have now won 13 in a row led by Ereauna Hardaway (the point guard Christenberry mentioned) and the inside presence of Thomas.

“Today, I just felt like I had more freedom to move around and get rebounds off of the glass,” Thomas told ASN. “In conference everybody boxes out, so just being able to get around a little bit made it easier.”

Thomas finished with 22 points and 17 rebounds, Bramyia Johnson had 16 points, and Hardaway added 11.

Brooklyn Rowe led Sheridan with 17 points.

Jonesboro plays the winner of Vilonia/Benton in the quarterfinal round on Friday at 7 p.m.

West Memphis 66 El Dorado 52

Going into this game, the 5A-South Conference was 0-2 against the 5A-East and El Dorado (17-7) came out strong looking to change that. The Lady Wildcats got out to a 12-4 lead just over two minutes into the game and got West Memphis’ star post Clemisha Prackett in early foul trouble as she committed three in the first quarter.

While Prackett took a seat, her teammates had her back cutting into the lead and getting ahead to end the first quarter up 18-15. Freshman Tyra Taylor had arguably the most impressive game of the tournament so far posting a double-double with 21 points and 19 rebounds.

The Lady Blue Devils (16-6) never looked back from there as West Memphis head coach Erica Taylor showed her trust in Prackett playing her for a good portion of the game after the first quarter until she fouled out with 1:39 left in the third.

The Lady Wildcats scratched and clawed until the end but had dug themselves too big of a hole to come back. Janiyah Tucker was the second-leading scorer with 15 points while Aniya Price added 10. Lindsey Lockhart led El Dorado with 19 points and Charalyn Rester had 13.

West Memphis tips off in the quarterfinals Thursday night at 7:00 against Greenwood.

Marion 57 Lakeside 27

This one started out as a slow, low-scoring game that looked like anyone could take over before Marion (20-10) did just that with star junior post Kiera Neal. Following a 12-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, Neal and the Lady Patriots got things clicking pushing the lead to 25-14 at halftime, then stretched the lead to 37-20 heading into the fourth. 

Three straight turnovers by Lakeside (18-8) all led to points for Marion adding to the lead forcing Lady Rams Coach Jay Williams to take a timeout just 44 seconds into the fourth quarter. Marion did exactly what it wanted to from that point on and enforced the running clock with just a little time left.

Neal led all scorers with 16 points with Alyse Holliman adding 11. Sarah Porter led Lakeside with 7 points. Marion will face Central top seed Jacksonville in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 1 p.m.

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