Vardaman will take on West Point for the girls’ championship while Caledonia will try to successfully defend their crown against Bruce in the boys’ championship game on Friday.
West Point 65 Calhoun City 64 (G)
Kelsie Ewings had only scored 12 points through three and a half quarters of play, but exploded for 16 points in the final four minutes of the game to give the West Point Lady Green Wave the 65-64 victory over the Calhoun City Wildcats.
The Lady Wave battled their way back from 19 down to make it a 64-63 game in favor of Calhoun City after Ewings connected on back-to-back three-pointers in the closing moments of the game.
Calhoun City missed a pair of free-throws and were whistled for a questionable foul trying to trap Ewings on the sidelines near mid-court with 11 seconds left in the game. Ewings stepped to the line and knocked down both free throws to give her team the two-point edge.
The Lady Cats appeared set to tie the game when a backdoor cut to the basket was wide open, but a bad pass went out of bounds giving the ball back to West Point with 4.3 seconds left on the clock.
Game over? Not yet.
Calhoun City forced a five second violation when the Lady Wave failed to find anyone open not wanting to risk a turnover on inbounds the pass near the Lady Cats basket, but unfortunately for City the ensuing inbounds play saw the ball sail out of bounds with 2.4 seconds left in the game.
West Point threw over the top of the press and ran the clock out to escape with the 65-64 victory.
Ewings led all scorers with 28, Kourtney Couley 20, and Kira Edwards added 11 points for West Point. Ebony Williams led Calhoun City with 23 while DiDi Miller scored 14 points.
Bruce 76 Calhoun City 67 (B)
The Trojans avenged an 111-109 triple overtime loss to Calhoun City earlier in the season by handing the Wildcats a 76-67 loss in the semi-final round of the Tater Tournament on Tuesday.
Shaunvanta Ingram led all scorers with 28 points including going 11-of-11 from the free throw line, but it was the 12-point effort from Marcell Gaston in the third quarter that proved to the decisive factor that put the Trojans in Friday’s championship game.
Calhoun City tried three different defenders to slow down Gaston, but the senior would not be denied as he bullied his way through the paint for easy baskets and rebounds to give the Trojans a 54-43 lead heading into the final frame after trailing 34-29 at halftime.
Bruce raced their way out to a 16-point lead early in the fourth, but Calhoun City made it a 10-point game with just less than two minutes to play. The Trojans matched the Cats in the final minutes of the game to hold on for the 76-67 victory.
Ingram led all scorers with 28, Devin Tillman 20, and Gaston 18 for Bruce. Dylan Turner paced the Wildcats with 17, Demarius Howard 12, and Brandon Lawrence added 11 points.
In other tournament action.
Bruce 49 Caledonia 29 (G)
The Lady Trojans used a score by committee approach to their elimination game against Caledonia and it worked. Eight different players put points on the board for Bruce as their in-your-face pressure defense created easy scoring opportunities all game long.
Bruce outscored the Lady Feds 12-4 in the second quarter to take a 23-11 lead at the break. Caledonia trimmed the 12-point edge down to 30-23 by the end of the third before Bruce put the game away by forcing the Lady Feds into numerous turnovers in the fourth.
Soria Blanch led all scorers with 14 while Jasmine Hampton led Bruce in scoring with 11 points.
West Point 71 Vardaman 45 (B)
West Point got things started in a hurry against a shorthanded Rams squad as do-it-all senior Serigo Prescott sat out majority of the first half due to an altercation with head coach Billy Dill in the late stages of the Caledonia game on Monday.
All put one player on the Green Wave roster scored in the contest with Michael Carr leading the way with 13 while Curtis Hall and Jorelle Terry added 10 points each. Prescott paced the Rams with 19 points.
Friday Schedule
12:00 – Calhoun City vs Bruce (G)
1:30 – Calhoun City vs West Point (B)
Championships
3:00 – Vardaman vs West Point (G)
4:30 – Caledonia vs Bruce (B)
