By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
Four three-pointers by a team in a game is nothing unusual, but four treys in a quarter helped spark the host Hillcrest-Evergreen Lady Jaguars to a 51-28 win over the W.S. Neal Lady Blue Eagles Friday in the Class 4A Area 2 regular season finale for both teams.
Hillcrest's victory clinched the number three seed for next week's Area Tournament at Andalusia and a first-round date against T.R. Miller. W.S. Neal (6-17 overall and 0-6 in area play) locked itself into the fourth seed and a first-round date against top-seeded Andalusia.
The Lady Blue Eagles played a solid first quarter and took a 9-6 lead, but the Lady Jaguars buried four three-pointers in the second quarter. Those shots from behind the arc triggered a 22-6 run that gave Hillcrest (2-4 in Area play) a 28-15 halftime lead.
Neither team could get much going in the third quarter, as each scored only four points and the Lady Jaguars maintained their 13-point lead from halftime at 32-19.
Hillcrest went on another big run in the fourth quarter where it outscored W.S. Neal 19-9 to wrap up the win.
Tiara Matthews led the Lady Blue Eagles with seven points, while Freida Folmar added six.
W.S. Neal starts its final week of regular season play Tuesday when it travels to Georgiana. The Lady Blue Eagles play their home finale Thursday against Flomaton and close out the regular season Friday at Escambia County.
At Hillcrest
W.S. Neal 9 6 4 9 - 28
Hillcrest 6 22 4 19 - 51
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Matthews 2-0-3-7; Folmar 2-0-2-6; Alexander 1-1-0-5; Thomas 2-0-0-4; Williams 1-0-1-3; Day 0-0-1-1; White 0-0-1-1; Elliott 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 8-1-9-28)
HILLCREST (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Floyd 4-1-1-12; Maye 2-1-0-7; Rudolph 1-1-0-5; Montgomery 2-0-0-4; Thomas 2-0-0-4; Ghee 2-0-0-4; Mims 2-0-0-4; McMillan 0-1-0-3; Simpson 1-0-0-2; North 1-0-0-2; Patterson 1-0-0-2; Smith 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 19-4-1-51)
Late rally lifts Red Level
It took the Lady Blue Eagles 31 and a half minutes to get in position to win, but only 30 seconds for it to slip away in Thursday's 35-32 home loss to the Red Level Lady Tigers.
W.S. Neal led 32-31 with 30 seconds left before Red Level's Breanna Pate hit a free throw to knot the score. Moments later Pate scored again, this time on a field goal, to put Red Level up 34-32. Pate also hit another free throw before time expired that widened the score to its final margin.
Katie Elliott scored a season-high 15 points to lead the Lady Blue Eagles. Elliott hit three three-pointers, one each in the second, third and fourth quarters.
At W.S. Neal
Red Level 6 15 6 8 - 35
W.S. Neal 11 7 8 6 - 32
RED LEVEL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Pate 7-0-2-16; Bradley 4-0-0-8; Callaway 2-0-1-5; Jones 1-0-2-4; Paulk 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 15-0-5-35)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Elliott 3-3-0-15; Davis 2-0-3-7; Alexander 2-0-0-4; Folmar 0-0-2-2; Day 1-0-0-2; Hawthorne 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 9-3-5-32)
Frisco City avenges loss
The Frisco City Lady Whippets made a 36-point swing from their first meeting against W.S. Neal, as they went from 10-point losers to 54-28 winners Tuesday at Frisco City.
A strange twist to the game was the fact W.S. Neal lost by 26 points despite the fact it took 20 more shots than the Lady Whippets, who lost 35-25 at W.S. Neal back on Dec. 5.
The Lady Blue Eagles did not take much advantage of their extra opportunities, as they shot just 16 percent from the floor (nine-for-55). On the flip side, Frisco City made a lot more of its chances where it hit 49 percent of its field goal attempts (17-for-35). The Lady Whippets also went to the free throw line 39 times as compared to just 18 for W.S. Neal.
Frisco City (9-6) scored the game's first nine points and never looked back. The only small run W.S. Neal had came late in the first quarter when a free throw by Rachel Davis and two charity tosses each by Tiara Matthews and Freida Folmar narrowed the gap to 9-5.
Frisco City recovered enough to stretch its lead to 13-5 by the end of the quarter. The Lady Whippets pulled away early in the second quarter when Shanequa Bonner hit back-to-back three-pointers and Shallunda Paerker followed with a three-point play.
Those three buckets sparked the Lady Whippets to a 33-13 lead by halftime. Frisco City pulled even farther ahead in the second half where it led by as many as 28 points.
At Frisco City
W.S. Neal 5 8 5 10 - 28
Frisco City 13 20 9 12 - 54
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Folmar 1-2-2-10; Matthews 2-0-3-7; Hawthorne 1-0-0-2; Davis 0-0-2-2; Williams 1-0-0-2; Thomas 1-0-0-2; Alexander 1-0-0-2; Jones 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 7-2-8-28)
FRISCO CITY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) S. Bonner 1-3-33-14; Parker 4-0-3-11; A. Bonner 3-0-4-10; Banks 1-0-3-5; Lee 0-1-2-5; Johnson 2-0-0-4; A. Williams 2-0-0-4; S. Williams 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 13-4-16-54)