By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
A 10-1 start gave the Lady Jackrabbits an early cushion in their 4A-2 Conference matchup with Stuttgart, and the host team never looked back from there as they beat the Lady Ricebirds 62-43 Tuesday at the Gina Cox Center at Lonoke High School.
Lonoke led 17-5 at the end of the first quarter and pushed its lead to 29-13 late in the second, but Stuttgart finished the quarter with a 6-0 run that cut the margin to 29-19 at halftime.
“Tonight I think we rebounded a little better,” said Lonoke coach Nathan Morris. “We’re still not there, but we moved the basketball better. I think we distributed it a lot better tonight. I was real proud of our effort on moving the basketball.
“I thought against their zone we did a pretty good job of that. And then finding an open look inside, and then the open look found us outside, too. I thought our inside-out basketball game was pretty good.”
Stuttgart (9-8, 4-6) opened the second half with a 4-0 run that cut the Lady Rabbits’ lead to six with the score 29-23, but Lonoke (15-6, 7-2) answered with five-straight points to push its lead back to double digits near the midway point of the third period.
The Lady Ricebirds, however, managed to trim the deficit back to single digits by the end of the quarter, but just barely, as Lonoke took a 39-30 lead into the fourth quarter.
Lonoke got its lead back to double digits with a free throw by Jarrelyn McCall with 7:45 to play in the fourth period. Just more than two minutes later, the Lady Rabbits went up 15 on a pair of free throws by Callie Whitfield.
Whitfield’s free throws came with 5:35 remaining, and on Stuttgart’s ensuing possession, McCall got a steal near half court.
McCall threw the ball up court to Whitfield, who then dished to a wide-open Amanda Sexton underneath the basket for an easy layup that made the score 50-33 Lonoke.
Lonoke pushed its lead to 19 three times in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, the last of which came on a free throw by sophomore Ashlyn Allen with 31.8 seconds to play, which set the final score.
Stuttgart narrowly outrebounded Lonoke 29-28, and made five three-pointers on 15 attempts compared to the host team’s 2 for 11 showing from three-point range. But those were the only areas, statistically, where the Lady Ricebirds came out on top.
Lonoke finished the game with 10 fewer turnovers than Stuttgart’s total of 19, and the host team committed just three turnovers in the second half. The Lady Rabbits made 24 of 54 shots from the floor for 44 percent, bettering Stuttgart’s 18 of 56 from the field for 32 percent.
The Lady Rabbits made 75 percent of their free throws on 12 of 16 shooting. Stuttgart was just 2 for 6 from the line for 33 percent.
Lonoke junior post Eboni Willis led all scorers with 18 points.
Sexton and McCall each scored 14. Sexton also had 11 rebounds, giving her a double-double. Whitfield finished with nine points.
For Stuttgart, Jayda Williams, Shacara Humbert and Tiffany Gipson scored nine points apiece to lead the Lady Ricebirds.
