Big fourth quarter propels BIC to win

BIC (10-10, 4-3) outscored the Lady Indians 22-10 in the fourth quarter to take a 61-51 over Marked Tree (16-3, 4-1) Thursday in girls' non-conference action at the MAC in Monette.

Marked Tree got on the board when Lakrissa Dupree scored in the paint only to see the Lady Mustangs reel off the next 10 points, as Riley Parker hit one of two free throws, Kendra Towell hit back to back jumpers, Arabella Oliver hit one of two free throws, Josephine Hannenken scored down low and Jaylyn Cagle hit two free throws to make it 10-2 BIC with less than a minute left in the opening quarter. Alesia Rand hit free throws for Marked Tree late to make the score 10-4 Lady Mustangs after one quarter.

Marked Tree opened the second quarter with a 17-2 run as Rand hit a jumper for the Lady Indians before Parker hit a jumper for BIC to make it 12-6 Lady Mustangs. Marked Tree then got two free throws from Dupree, back to back baskets from Rand, a basket in the paint from Dupree and an old school three-point play, a basket inside and two free throws from Rand to push the Lady Indians' lead to 21-12 with 1:17 left. Hanneken scored inside for BIC to stop the Marked Tree run before Zyonna Anderson hit one of two free throws for the Lady Indians to make it 22-14 Marked Tree. Hanneken then canned a three-ball for the Lady Mustangs before Anderson hit two free throws for the Lady Indians making the score 24-17 Marked Tree at halftime.

BIC scored the first eight points of the third quarter as Towell and Hanneken had back to back to baskets before Cagle and Parker scored back to back baskets in the paint to make it 25-24 Lady Mustangs. Tink Brown hit two free throws for the Lady Indians, Parker scored down low for BIC then Dupree hit one of two free throws for Marked Tree to tie the game at 27 with 4:07 left. Versie scored down low for the Lady Indians and Brown scored back to back baskets to give Marked Tree a 33-27 lead. Back to back triple twine from Cloey Kemp and Oliver tied the game at 33 with 1:56 left before Rand scored inside for Marked Tree to make it 35-33 Lady Indians. Oliver converted an old-fashioned three-point play for BIC, the Lady Indians got back to back to back baskets from Brown and Rand, Oliver drilled a three-pointer for the Lady Mustangs, before Rand stuck back an offensive rebound for Marked Tree making it 41-39 Lady Indians after three quarters of play.

The offenses for both team continued to produce in the fourth quarter as Brown and Parker traded baskets in the paint, before Rand and Brown scored back to back baskets for the Lady Indians to make the score 47-41 Marked Tree. BIC cut the lead to 47-46 with a three-ball from Cagle and a jumper from Parker before Cagle got a steal and lay up and Towell scored inside to give the Lady Mustangs a 50-47 lead with 4:15 left. Back to back baskets from Oliver and Parker pushed the BIC lead to 54-47 but Brown scored in the paint for Marked Tree to make it 54-49. Hanneken hit three of four free throws on back to back trips to the line for the Lady Mustangs and Brown scored down low for the Lady Indians making the score 57-51 BIC. Cagle and Parker both hit one of two free throws for the Lady Mustangs before Parker scored inside to set the final score at 61-51 BIC.

“Marked Tree is a really good team and has won some big games this year. We were without Wells again tonight and we just wanted to compete and to come away with a win with a starter out is big,” BIC head coach Trevor Matheny said after the game. “It's big mental boost winning a game like this after losing to Riverside last week. I think we let that game (Riverside) slip away from us but we took care of business tonight and got the win,” Matheny added.

Parker led BIC with 16 points. Oliver and Parker both finished with 12 points, Towell added eight points and Kemp chipped in three points for the Lady Mustangs.

“We have got to fix our slow starts and that comes down to practice. Maybe that's on me for not pushing them a little harder in practice, but we have got to start coming out hot at the beginning of games,” Marked Tree head coach Colten Frazier said of his team. “We are not playing four quarters of basketball and we are three weeks away from tournament play. We've got to get it together and get it together quick,” Frazier added.

Rand led all scorers with 23 points, while Brown scored 16 points off the bench for the Lady Indians. Dupree finished with seven points, while Anderson and Versie had three and two points respectively for Marked Tree.