LADY BEARCATS WIN DISTRICT OPENER

After a series of punches and counterpunches the Booneville Lady Bearcats earned a chance to play for a Class 3A Region 1 tournament berth Monday night with a 40-33 win over Lavaca in the opening round of the District 3A-4 tournament being held at Bearcat Gymnasium.

Exactly when that game will happen – the original schedule had that game set for today – is still somewhat uncertain but the current schedule finds the game with the third seeded Lady Eagles is set for Friday at 4 p.m.

On Monday it was the Lady Bearcats who had 6-0, 13-0, and 8-0 runs to earn a second win over Lavaca in four days.

The first run saw Haylee Taylor hit a 3, Baylee Parnell (shown) add a basket and Makinley Ensey a free throw, the later giving thee Lady Bearcats an 8-2 lead with 3:24 left in the opening quarter.

Lavaca got within 10-9 by the end of the quarter but a 3 by Angie Brown made it 13-9 with 6:38 left in the first half.

However the Lady Bearcats would not score again before the intermission and Lavaca went on a 9-0 run to lead 18-13.

The Lady Bearcat drought ended on a Tempi Terry basket with 7:07 left in the third quarter and with Taylor, Brown, Raelynn Franklin and Ensey all contributing a 13-0 run over 5:05 gave the Lady Bearcats a 26-18 lead.

Lavaca scored the only basket over the last 2:02 of the quarter and embarked on an 8-0 run to tie it at 26-26 with 5:10 to play.

After a couple of Lady Golden Arrow free throws it was 30-28 with 4:22 left but Parnell and Terry combined to score eight straight and the lead was double digits at 38-28 with 1:13 to go.

A couple of free throws by Taylor made it 40-30 and a Lavaca 3 with :04 to go set the final.

With an even 10 points Brown would be the only player in double figures in the game, giving her 25 against the Lady Arrows in four days. Parnell and Taylor both scored 9 and Terry 7.

That sets up the game against Paris, with whom the Lady Bearcats split in the regular season with Paris winning in double overtime in Booneville and the Lady Bearcats ruining senior night in Paris last week.