Surging Manassas, Southwind vie for Dragon Fire title

article from CommercialAppeal.com

Two teams off to great starts, one looking for its first bit of lore, will collide tonight when Manassas meets Southwind for the Dragon Fire Invitational girl's basketball title at Collierville.

Behind 27 points from senior Bianca Cage, Southwind (14-1) raced to a 35-12 halftime lead and, despite some serious fourth-quarter sputters, cruised by Jonesboro on Thursday, 47-24.

After leading by as many as 18 points early in the second half, Manassas (13-2) had to pull itself together for a last-gasp run and a 59-49 win over Bartlett.

Fouls and fatigue caught up to the Tigers, who scored just four points in the third quarter and let Bartlett (6-6) claw its way back to a 38-all tie early in the final period on a basket by Destiny James, who had 16 of her 23 points after halftime.



Finally, junior Phikala Anthony hit back-to-back jumpers, and the Tigers applied the pressure for a 15-4 run.

"The fouls forced us to mix-and-match a lot, and both sides were getting tired," said Manassas coach Tommy Warren, whose Region 8-AA champs went 27-8 and made it to the state tournament. "But ... our kids showed they fight through adversity extremely well."

Denise Johnson led Manassas with 17 points, while Anthony had 15, Tiffany Jones had 12 and Marcreshia Drummer added 11, all in the first half.

Senior Rachell Hughes scored 16 points inside for Bartlett, but a lack of depth and an 8-for-24 performance at the free-throw line hurt the Panthers.

"We just dug ourselves too deep a hole early, and were always trying to fight our way out," Bartlett coach Lynn Whitfield said.

Southwind's stumbles came long after it had put away the Hurricanes (7-5).

"This team has never gotten off to this kind of start, but we're still at a point where the kids need repetitions to totally get what we're trying to do," said Jaguars coach Stan Gatlin.

Cage said just putting that first girl's basketball trophy in Southwind's case would be huge.

"We need to take that step forward, especially to show the younger kids," Cage said. "Coach Gatlin challenges us every day, and that's been the biggest difference this year."

Bartlett and Jonesboro play for third place at 6 tonight, with the championship game to follow.