Final hurrah for the Lady Bears
Wed, 03/09/2022 - 1:55pm
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The Lady Bears began their district tournament run as the no. 2 seed Saturday, March 1 where they faced off with the no. 7 seed Reed Springs Lady Wolves. The Lady Bears made short work of the Lady wolves by a score of 63-21.
That win advanced the Lady Bears to the district semifinals in a matchup versus the Lady Wildcats of Rogersville. Rogersville would keep the score respectable but in the end were no match for the Lady Bears, and the Lady Bears would roll to a 64-48 win, and with that win the girls from Willow were looking at a rematch from conference play against the Ava Lady Bears.
The gym was packed, and the air was electric as the highly anticipated rematch began. It was the game everyone wanted to watch. The Bears would jump out to an early lead as Liz Sheehan scored the game's first basket. Ava would match to tie the game.
Then Ashlyn Jones got the Lady Bears rolling by getting the steal and getting the basket and fouled and converting the old fashioned 3-point play. The next possession was more of the same as Jones buried a deep 3 to take a 12-6 lead and forced the Ava squad to call timeout and try to regroup. Ava did regroup, and the score at the end of the first quarter was 12-11 in favor of the Willow Springs Lady Bears.
Ava had the advantage in size for the game, and they used it as they took the lead from the Willow Springs Lady Bears going into the half up 20-16.
Both teams put up 12 points each in the third quarter, and the fourth began just like the third with Willow Springs Lady Bears trailing by 4.
Willow Springs cut into the lead in the fourth quarter after a Liz Sheehan steal and layup, followed by another deep 3 for Ashlyn Jones. But Ava would close the game at the charity strip, and clench the district championship by a final score of 45-40.
Leading all scores for the game was senior Ashlyn Jones with 16. The loss ended the Willow Springs Lady Bears’ season with a runner-up plaque in the district. The Willow Springs Lady Bears final record was 19-9 and 5-1 in the SCA.