Bartlett, Arlington advance in Region 7-AAA girls tournament

from CommercialAppeal.com

It wasn't exactly what Bartlett coach Lynn Whitfield had in mind with her team's season on the line Monday night in Arlington in the Region 7-AAA girls basketball semifinals, but it worked out just fine.

Bartlett sophomore Shondria Scruggs hit two 3-pointers in a row to start overtime and that was enough to give the Lady Panthers a 61-54 win over Munford and move into Wednesday's region championship game.

“I'm not sure that's exactly the shot I would have wanted then,” said Whitfield. “But if it goes in, you always say, 'Great shot.'”

“I just took my time and had faith in myself,” said Scruggs, who finished with 13 points. “And I had faith in my teammates to get the rebound if I missed the shot.”

Scruggs' second 3-pointer gave Bartlett a 56-52 lead and Munford was not able to get any closer the rest of the way.

Early on it looked like Bartlett (20-11) was going to win handily.

A 9-0 run that spanned the second and third quarters gave Bartlett a 35-15 lead with 5:17 left in the third period.

But Munford (19-10) would not go quietly.

A 3-pointer by Alex Turner sparked a 20-3 Munford run that pulled the Lady Cougars to within three points at the 6:18 mark of the fourth quarter.

Bartlett pushed the lead back to 11 points midway through the fourth, but Munford rallied again.

With 17 seconds left, Munford junior Robneisha Lee made 1 of 2 free throws to tie the game at 50-all.

Lee, who finished with 15 points, blocked a shot from Destiny James as time expired to force overtime.

Lauren Zvolanek led Munford with 16 points.

Rachell Hughes, who sat out much of the third quarter with foul trouble, led Bartlett with 15 points.

Bartlett moves on to face Arlington (26-3), which beat Hardin County 56-39 in the second semifinal of the night.

University of Memphis signee Ariel Hearn was the story. She scored 26 points to lead her team to the region title game for the first time in the program's short history.

Arlington had lost in the region semifinals the last three years.

“I sat down (after the game) and one of the coaches looked at me,” Arlington coach David Offerle said. “And I said I think I got the monkey off my back finally … Ariel wanted it. She wanted it bad.”

Karlee Wyatt led Hardin County (14-15) with 17 points.