Chicks down Devil Dogs, 70-47

By MARCUS MCCLAIN

NEA Town Courier

To say ChicksNation showed up for the team’s opening game of the state tournament would be a monumental understatement.

Maroon and white filled Chickasaw Arena wall to wall and shoulder to shoulder for Blytheville’s 70-47 win over Morrilton on Thursday. And with the crowd energy as high as it’s ever been in the Arena, the players took it even further with their opening minutes of play.

The shooting touch from their previous contest did more than carry over, propelling the Chicks to a big advantage early. Blytheville connected from out- side the arc four times in the quarter, getting one each from Jeremiah Wells and Shamar Marshall, along with two from KeSean Washington.

A host of Chicks made their presence felt in the first as six players found their way to the score sheet. And after the opening frame, Blytheville looked to be in complete control with a 21- 10 lead.

But the game changed in the second quarter. Perimeter shots became more scarce and turnovers became more constant as the Devil Dogs crept back into the game. Morrilton’s BJ Woodruff gave his squad a huge boost, scoring 11 of the team’s 16 points in the frame.

“I just thought we kind of relaxed a bit and got a little sloppy with the ball. Outside of a couple guys, we didn’t feel they shoot it great from the perimeter. So we wanted to go under on their ball screens, but they were slipping and as we went under they kind of wiped our on-ball defender off the floor,” Blytheville head coach McKenzie Pierce said. “We

weren’t really getting that call so we had to make an adjustment and fight through [the screen]. And if that gave them a mid-range pull-up, then it just gave them a mid-range pull up. I thought that was a lot of the trouble defensively there.”

The additional problem has been a constant for the Chicks that Pierce is eager to see finally put to rest.

“And the other problem [again], was giving up a lot of offensive rebounds to guys half our size. If we’re going to go win this whole thing, we’ve got to get it fixed. At this point it’s just want to. You have to rebound the basketball as a team. There’s no excuse, when their biggest guy on the floor is 6’1, to give up 12 to 15 offensive rebounds in one half. That’s the main thing to clean up.”

The Chicks scored only eight points in the second frame, and saw their lead shrink to a little as one. But a buzzer-beating tip-in from TJ Jackson gave Blytheville a 29-26 edge at the half, and propelled the team into the third.

The second half started much like the first quarter, with the first seven points going to Blytheville. The Devil Dogs defense gave them their first score following a strip down in the post.

Up until that point, Morrilton’s defensive strategy against four-star prospect Rashaud Marshall was effective. They had held him to just four points until the early stages of the third, and his low-post offense returned to form.

To get the ball in his hands more often, Pierce noted a new wrinkle added to the Blytheville game plan.

“We went to an offense we put in a few weeks back,” Pierce said.

“We really didn’t want to run it tonight, but we kind of had to. It’s something we had been saving for Saturday, but this is do or die, so you better put all your cards on the table.”

The Marshall connection produced an and-1 for Rashaud and gave the team a 39-28 advantage. Moments later, Jackson forced an offensive foul on one end and connected on a 4-point play on the other.

The momentum had clearly swung back in Blytheville’s favor as they took a 53-39 lead into the fourth. In a flash their lead ballooned to 20 and they were in

prime position to advance. But they didn’t move on without one final touch from senior Billy Davis Jr.

Davis gave the crowd a one- handed, break-away slam, producing one of ChickNation’s biggest roars of the night.

The Chicks move on to face an undefeated Farmington squad that took down Mills University Studies just a few hours prior. The winner of this contest will earn their trip to Hot Springs and a spot in the state title game. Nothing less than another sold- out arena will be expected of the 1:30 matchup this Saturday

(March 4).

“That’s why we built this thing. And I know [this was] a big game, but this shouldn’t be the first time in three years that it looks like this. We’ve had a dang good team that’s been undefeated in conference for three straight years. This ain’t the first time we’ve been ranked in the top 10 in the state, and this ain’t the first time we’ve had our eyes set on Hot Springs and bringing that trophy home. So it should look like this more often,” Pierce said.