Tyner’s girls can be thankful that the first half they played Friday night was good enough for them to hold on in the second half.
Things began looking a little shaky in the fourth quarter for the Lady Rams, who saw the 23-point lead they had owned late in the second quarter trimmed to a two-possession game inside the final two minutes. But a strong finish from the free-throw line locked up a 66-52 victory over Sweetwater in a Region 3-AA high school basketball quarterfinal at Tyner.
The tournament now moves to East Ridge for girls’ and boys’ semifinals and finals. Tyner (15-10) will play Sequoyah on Monday at 7:30.
“This is a tough region,” Tyner coach Katrich Williams said. “We’re excited and just blessed and thankful for the opportunity to play again.”
Sweetwater (11-16) owned one lead in the game and that was 3-2. The Lady Rams scored the next 15 points.
A 10-0 run kick-started their 22-point second quarter, which included four 3-point goals. The last of those was by Ja’Mesia Parks 57 seconds before halftime and made the score 39-16.
“This was one of the better halves we’ve played on both ends,” Williams said. “We shot the ball well. It was a great first half.”
However, starting with Hannah Withrow’s 3-pointer to close the first-half scoring followed by a 15-9 advantage in the third quarter, the Lady Wildcats eventually got the margin back to single digits on Taylor Hurst’s two free throws with 4:44 to play. The Lady Rams created some problems for themselves early in the fourth quarter by going 2-for-6 from the free-throw line, including 0-for-3 in one-and-bonus situations.
But after Ariana Davidson scored in the lane to pull Sweetwater within 57-51 with 1:22 remaining, Tyner closed with a 9-1 run that included 7-of-9 free-throw shooting.
“Sweetwater made some big changes we were slow to adjust to,” Williams said.
Sweetwater coach Heather Jaramillo said her team’s biggest adjustment in the second half was simply playing with more energy.
“We just didn’t come out ready to play,” Jaramillo said. “They hit a lot of shots and we didn’t get out to the shooters. The second half we came out and executed and played much harder. Mainly it was just an effort thing. We weren’t ready at the start. We just turned it on too late.”
Parks had four of Tyner’s seven 3s and paced the Lady Rams with 14 points. Kemah Watkins added 12 points and Marquiesha Conyers and Samantha Maffett scored 11 apiece.
Withrow had a game-high 16 points for the Lady Wildcats. Davidson contributed 15 with eight coming in the fourth quarter.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at sports@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/ KelleySmiddie.