04 Mar 2015 CCS Lady Eagles ready for state tournament

The Conway Christian Lady Eagles (21-9) claimed the No. 3 seed out of the 2A-West regional by defeating the Hector Wildcats 57-39 Tuesday night.

Senior Lindsey Clay led the scoring with 17 boosted by four threes. Senior Katie Jo Henley added 12 points, eight rebounds, three steals and an assist. Senior Carly Powell had four assists and senior McKinley Wallace hit three of four fourth quarter free throws to seal the win and added three assists. Sophomore Adrianna Ferrand had 10 points including hitting eight of nine free throws.

The Lady Eagles held a four point advantage at halftime but saw the lead quickly evaporate early in the third. On the strength of back to back assists from Wallace to Lindy Dather and Clay to take a five point lead, followed by three consecutive baskets by Mary Morgan Ellis, and another put-back by Dather, CCS closed the third quarter leading by 11. Hitting 14 of 18 free throws in the fourth served to extend the lead to the final margin.

“This takes our basketball program to a point that we’ve only experienced one time in our very young sports program,” said Coach Jeremy Carson. “Only once before have we reached the state tournament and that was 2010 when, of course, the Lady Eagles won it all. We are thrilled to be one of 16 teams (out of 67) still playing in class 2A and we are all very excited to see how much noise we can now make in the state tournament!”

The Lady Eagles will face No. 2 seed Buffalo Island Christian in a first round game scheduled (weather permitting) for 4 p.m. Friday at Pangburn.