Big third quarter propels Salem past Lamar in 3A championship game

HOT SPRINGS — Salem (30-4) dominated the third quarter and turned a competitive first-half into a blowout in a 56-36 victory over Lamar (29-5) in the Class 3A girls state championship before 3,439 at Bank OZK Arena Saturday night.

Leading 30-23 at halftime, Salem outscored Lamar 19-8, holding the Lady Warriors to 1-of-9 shooting with 5 turnovers.

“The third quarter, we didn’t play well,” said Lamar head coach Brandon Schluterman. “A lot of what they were doing is they were sagging off and we hit the panic button a little bit and a lot of the adversity we’ve been facing caught up with us and that was my fault. All year, we had been a kick it out and drive team and they kept us from getting in close.”

Salem opened the scoring in the second half with a three-pointer by Madeline Keen to make it 33-23. Chelsea Hamilton, who led the Greyhounds in scoring with 20 points with 5 rebounds and 4 assists, made two free throws at the 5:23 mark to make it 35-23. Olivia Dockins scored to make it 37-23. Hamilton scored off the glass to make it 39-23 by the media timeout at the 3:30 mark. Coming out of the timeout, Lamar finally got on the scoreboard when Karley Williams made 1-of-2 free throws to make it 39-24. 

Marleigh Sellars added two free throws at the 3:12 mark to make it 41-24. After Willams made 1-of-2 at the line with 2:35 left, Hamilton had a three-point play at the 2:24 mark to make it 44-25 at the 2:24 mark. A three-pointer by Sellars made it 47-25. Four free throws by Bailee Cowell for Lamar closed two 47-29 before Madison Davidson scored the Lady Warriors first field goal of the half on a pass from Morgan Cochran to make it 47-31. Two free throws by Hamilton with 8.3 seconds closed out the quarter giving Salem at 49-31 lead.

“From the second quarter on, we played great defense,” Salem head coach Josh Bateman said. “The first quarter, we had a feeling out process and after that we played great.”

For the game, Salem held Lamar to 16-of-44 shooting, including 5-of-18 on three-pointers. Salem out rebounded Lamar 33-31, outscored Lamar 20-12 in the lane, had 23 points off 15 turnovers and 12 second-chance points.

Salem led 18-16 after the first quarter in which the shot 6-of-14 and state tournament MVP Sellars, who had 13 points and 7 rebounds, accounted for 8 points in the opening quarter. Lamar made 6-of-10 shots with Cochran and Shae Taylor scoring five.

Salem gave itself some breathing room at the end of the first half when Keen made two three-pointers to make it 30-23.

With Hamilton leading the way with 20 points with 12-of-13 coming at the foul line and Keen scoring 16 with 4-of-6 coming on three-pointers, Bateman said with the way Salem was playing defense, the offense was a lot easier tonight with those two and Sellars finishing in double figures.

“It’s a huge night when you can get three players with double figures. That helps us a lot and all three are a big part of what we do.”

Keen said, “It felt great tonight. It seemed like everything was falling into place for us.

After losing in the finals two years ago to Melbourne and in the semifinals last year to Bigelow, Bateman was proud to see his team get over the hump.

“I was looking back on it, and we’ve been to the Final Four three times, the finals once and now we have a championship,” said Bateman. “Good coaches have great players, and they feel like they know what I’m doing.

“We had a sense of calm and the experience of being here before helps. I told them that we’re playing in a basketball game, but in a bigger arena and it’s still 32 minutes. Sometimes, you fail before you can succeed. We all like to win, but sometimes we fail and you have to figure out why you fail.”

For Schluterman, while the loss hurts, it’s not going to take away from the memories of the season in which his team overcame the death of teammate Ashlynn Burns, who died in a automobile accident on Jan. 17. There was also the death of teachers Amanda Harrison and Melissa Edwards and gym janitor Leland Nordin.

“I’m very proud of these kids,” said Schluterman. “Everyone knows about the adversity we’ve overcome. We lost our final home game on senior night, and then we were able to go out and host the state tournament and get to the finals. People from across the state showed a lot of compassion and our student section and community have been there for us all year.”

Williams led Lamar with 11 points and 8 rebounds. Davidson had 6 points and 11 rebounds.