By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Beebe Lady Badgers advanced to the championship of their own Beebe Christmas Classic with wins over Blytheville and Riverview this week. The Lady Badgers handled the Chickasaws with relative ease, winning 49-21. They then battled to the wire for a 45-39 win over the Lady Raiders.
The Lady Badgers earned their victory over Riverview (7-6) in the third quarter. The Lady Raiders led 23-20 at halftime, but Beebe outscored them 18-9 in the third quarter to take a 38-32 lead.
The key to the third-quarter onslaught was simple. Shots started falling for Beebe. Three different Lady Badgers made 3-pointers in the quarter. But it was the defense that coach Greg Richey believes ultimately won the game for his squad.
“We had to battle tonight,” said Richey. “We still have a ways to go offensively, but it was nice to see some shots go down. Defensively I think we’re playing really well. We haven’t allowed anybody to score 40 points on us since Dec. 3, and that game was 41. If we can keep playing defense like that, we’re going to have a chance to win a lot of games. It’s pretty good defense to hold a team like Riverview to 16 points in the second half.”
Junior guard Libbie Hill was the only player in the game to score in double figures. She had 20 points, and made it a double-double by adding 10 rebounds.
Against Blytheville (1-9), Beebe controlled the game from the outset. The Lady Badgers (9-4) led 15-8 after one quarter and 29-14 at halftime.
Hill posted 23 points in that victory while senior Hannah Camp scored 14.
Beebe faced Little Rock Christian Academy in the championship on Friday after Leader deadlines.
The Lady Warriors (9-3) beat Searcy 58-36 and Harding Academy 65-49 in the first two rounds to get to the championship game. Look for details of that matchup in Wednesday’s edition of The Leader.
Beebe opens conference play at Greenbrier on Tuesday.
