Lady Indians fall to Jasper at 1A state tournament

A seven point output in the fourth quarter spelled doom for the Marked Tree Lady Indians (28-9) ended their season with a 46-36 loss to Jasper in the Class 1A State Basketball Tournament hosted by Marked Tree but played at Wildcat Arena in Trumann.

The Lady Pirates got on the board first for an early 2-0 lead before Zyonna Anderson hit triple twine for Marked Tree making it 3-2. Jasper pushed the lead to 5-3 only to see Journi Versie stick back a rebound and Lakrissa Dupree score in the paint to make it 7-5 Lady Indians with 3:31 left. Jasper tied the game at 7-7 with a basket down low as Marked Tree ended the quarter with a 7-0 run as Dupree scored inside, Versie canned a three-pointer and Dupree scored inside again to make it 14-7 Marked Tree at the end of one quarter.

Jasper opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 14-14. Versie hit one of two free throws, the Lady Pirates drilled a three-ball as Versie made two free throws to tie the game at 17-17 with 3:08 left. Jasper scored the last six points of the quarter to take a 23-17 lead to halftime.

Ava McCuiston scored the first points of the third quarter to cut the lead to 23-19 as the Lady Pirates hit one of two free throws making it 24-19. Back to back baskets from Versie and McCuiston cut the lead to 24-23 only to see Jasper score down low to push the lead to 26-23 with 5:20 left. Versie scored in the paint to make the score 26-25 before back to back baskets from the Lady Pirates pushed their lead to 30-25. Marked Tree answered with two free throws from Anderson and a jumper in the lane from Versie making the score 30-29 Jasper at the end of the third quarter.

Dupree’s made one of two free throws early in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 30-30 before back to back baskets from Jasper made it 34-30 Lady Pirates. Versie’s basket down low cut the lead to 34-32 only to see Jasper score the next five points to make the score 40-32 Lady Pirates with 4:36 left in the game. Dupree scored in the paint for Marked Tree as the Lady Pirates scored back to back baskets making it 44-34 with just over two minutes left in the game. Anderson got inside for basket before Jasper added a basket late to make the final score 46-36 Lady Pirates.

“We just couldn’t buy a basket tonight and I thought our defense was the worst we played all year and unfortunately that’s how it is sometime,” Marked Tree head coach Colten Frazier said after the game. “I thought we had some good looks late and we had the one play where we had four offensive rebounds and could not get a basket,” Frazier added. “You have to have some luck and ball has to roll your way, tonight we didn’t have any luck, the ball didn’t roll our way and we couldn’t guard. Props to Jasper, they have a good team and they scouted us well and they played us well tonight,” Frazier said.

Versie led the Lady Indians with 16 points as Dupree finished with nine points. Anderson tossed in seven points and McCuiston added four points for Marked Tree.