Turnovers, missed FTs costly for Lady Pirates

GOSNELL -- The Gosnell Lady Pirates fell to the Westside Lady Warriors Monday night, 47-41, in a 4A-3 battle.

Despite a double-double from sophomore Kemahri Soward (15 points and 11 rebounds), the Lady Pirates could not overcome 19 turnovers and 56 percent free throw shooting (14-25) including 1-4 in the final minutes with two coming on the front end of one-and-one opportunities.

"Free throws and turnovers. That was the game," said Lady Pirate head coach Tim Hawkins.

"We gave them too many possessions. We turned it over too many times after we had regained possession. You can't do that in a six-point ball game."

In a game that was tight all night, no team held greater than the six- point advantage.

Gosnell held a slight, 13-12, lead at the end of one thanks to a nice boost from guard, Zena Bowman, who had four points and two rebounds in the period.

Gosnell stretched their lead to 20-15 late in the second period as they hit eight of their first 11 attempts from the charity stripe but Westside used a 7-2 mini run at the end of the period to tie it at 22-22 by halftime.

Down 27-24 with four minutes to play in the third period, Westside outscored the Lady Pirates, 10-2, over the remaining minutes of the period to take a 34-29 lead heading into the fourth. Nine of those 10 points came from three pointers with Taylor Cooper connecting twice for the Lady Warriors on her way to a 22-point night.

Soward opened the fourth scoring the first seven points for the Lady Pirates as they got back in the game. Her open court steal and lay up with 5:20 left tied the game at 36-36 but Gosnell would get no closer.

The Lady Warriors outscored Gosnell, 11-5, over the remaining five minutes and hit all six of their free throw attempts to seal the victory.

For the game, Soward led the Lady Pirates with 15 points, 11 rebounds and four steals. Bowman added 11 points, Shanice McClain chipped in 10 points and four boards and Brittany Taylor scored five points and grabbed nine rebounds.

The loss drops the Lady Pirates to 6-6 in the 4A-3 standings with two games remaining.

"We're looking at finishing fourth in the league if there are no upsets," said Hawkins. "We have to point advantage over Highland so we just need to take care of business."

Thursday, the Lady Pirates head to league-leading Valley View and then return home for their final home game of the season on Tuesday, Feb. 8, against Trumann.

JUNIOR HIGH Gosnell 35, Westside 33

The Gosnell Junior Lady Pirates squeaked out a close, 35-33, victory over Westside in Monday's early game.

Gosnell led 7-6 after one, 16-12 at halftime and the game was tied, 23-23, at the end of three.

Brooke Hill led the Lady Pirates with nine points and Ni Hopkins added eight.

afitzpatrick@blythevillecourier.com