Spartans Seal the Deal Late

Tied 42-42 with one-minute left, junior center Brea Gegg scored four points to put the game away and give the Francis Howell Central Lady Spartans (10-5) a 46-42 victory against the Duchesne Lady Pioneers (7-6) Friday night at the Warrenton Tournament.

The game was close throughout with no team getting a lead bigger than six points.

Howell Central stumbled out of the gate, struggling with turnovers and missed shots, but were only down 11-7. 

“We had a really rough first quarter,” Howell Central head coach Brian Ricker said.

In the second quarter, the Lady Spartans started going to the inside and to Sharese Jones. This was the changing point in the game, because the Lady Pioneers just could not stop Jones for the rest of the game. During the end of the first half, the Pioneers hit two 3-pointers to go up 24-20 to end the half. The Spartans played better in the second quarter, but still trailed.

“I thought after the first quarter we played decent,” Ricker said.

The Lady Spartans began the third quarter playing as they did in the first quarter, but towards the end, they got better. Howell Centrall tied the game at 28 and junior guard Jazmine Davis shot a 3-pointer to give the Spartans their first lead of the game, 31-28, to end the third quarter.

“We gotta have better possessions,” Ricker said when talking to his team before the fourth.

The Lady Pioneers got the lead back, 34-33 with 6 minutes left. Seconds later, the Lady Spartans got it back 36-34.

The Lady Spartans played well and got the lead to 42-36 with 2:45 left. Duchesne tied it at 42, but Begg’s four points won it for the Spartans. The Pioneers had chances at the end, but they missed shots.

“Guarding a team with those kinds of shooters is tough to do,” Ricker said.

 Jones had 27 points, with most of them came from the post.

“We should have closed out a little bit better, but didn’t,” Ricker said.

The Lady Spartans hit 73 percent from the free throw line and 2-of-7 from the 3-point line. They made 46 percent of their shots. Jones was the player who got double figures for the Lady Spartans.

“We played a pretty good second half,” Ricker said.

The win advanced the Spartans to the championship game of the Warrenton Shootout at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011, at the Field House Gym. They play the Mexico Bulldogs.