By JASON KING
Leader sports writer
The Lonoke Lady Jackrabbits show no sign of slowing down.
The Lady ’Rabbits backed up their unbeaten run through the 2-4A Conference regular season with a sweep of the district tournament at Stuttgart over the weekend.
Lonoke (24-5) sent tourney host Stuttgart packing in the semifinals with a 43-29 victory Friday and claimed its second straight district championship the following day by beating Clinton 62-44.
Lady Jackrabbits senior post player and future UALR Trojan Asiah Scribner was a standout both nights with 15 points against Stuttgart and a 25-point, 12-rebound performance against Clinton in the finals on Saturday.
“Asiah just dominated in the post,” Lonoke coach Nathan Morris said. “They played behind her, and she took it one-on-one to the basket. Our guard play was also strong, which we needed once they started coming back on us. They made three threes in the fourth quarter and had six for the game.”
Senior guard Ashleigh Himstedt also had a consistent weekend for the Lady ’Rabbits with 16 points against Stuttgart and 12 against Clinton. Lonoke was aided by another double-digit performance Saturday when junior Cara Neighbors began to shake off a recent slump with 15 points.
“Even then, we’re talking about mostly lay-ups,” Morris said of Neighbors’ late-season funk. “Shooters are going to go through that, they just have to keep shooting. And that’s what she has to do, is keep shooting and keep a good mental attitude. The thing is, when you have four scorers, one of them can have an off night and you can still be successful.”
5-2A NORTH BOYS
The old coaches’ saying that it is hard to beat a team three times in a row proved true for Abundant Life in the finals of the 2A District 5 tournament at White County Central on Saturday.
The Owls beat Conway St. Joseph twice during their unbeaten, regular-season run through the 5-2A North Conference, but the Bulldogs got the last laugh with a 63-56 victory in the district finals.
Senior post player Garrett Southerland led the Owls with 19 points, while point guard Mike Stramiello scored 16.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 14-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and stretched that to 29-20 at the half. Abundant Life (29-5) began to close the gap in the third quarter until a seven-point outburst by St. Joe’s Tyler Jones in the closing seconds put the Bulldogs up 45-33 and forced the Owls to try and play catchup in the final period.
“That killed us,” Owls coach Tim Ballard said. “Same kid, just bam, bam, bam. We missed a bunch of threes that we normally make. When we beat them at their place, we actually got down by seven and hit three threes in a row. We had some of the same looks in this one and just couldn’t get them to fall.”
Jones went on to lead St. Joe with 15 points.
White County Central will also be the site of the 2A East Region tournament this week. The Owls will be the No. 2 seed out of the 5-North and will play 6-2A No. 3 seed Clarendon on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs will be the 5-North No. 1 seed and will face 6-2A No. 4 seed Augusta today at 8:30 p.m.