RISON - The Rison Lady Wildcats secured the no. 2 seed in this week's 8-2A District Tournament at Gurdon with a 42-32 victory over the Ouachita Lady Warriors Friday night at the Rison Gym.
The Lady 'Cats wrapped up the regular season with a 17-10 record overall and an 8-4 mark in conference play. Rison tied Parkers Chapel in the final standings, but was awarded the no. 2 seed for the district tournament via the tie-breaker.
Fordyce won the 8-2A regular season championship by going 12-0.
By virtue of its no. 2 seed in the district tournament, Rison earns an automatic berth in the semifinals and therefore has assured itself of a trip to the Class 2A South Region Tournament to be held Feb. 22-25 at Fordyce.
The Lady 'Cats are scheduled to play at 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17, at Gurdon High School. They will face the winner between Parkers Chapel and the Woodlawn/Junction City winner.
Should Rison win Friday, the Lady Wildcats would advance to the championship game set for 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, at Gurdon. There is no consolation game this year.
Rison needed to rally from an early deficit to knock off Ouachita in the regular season finale last Friday night to earn that no. 2 seed.
The Lady Warriors got off to a productive start, going up 8-2 before a steal and layup by Destiny Lea and a put back by Layne Potter closed it to 8-6. But Ouachita closed out the opening period with a a 4-0 run to lead 12-6 going in to the second.
Rison took its first lead of the game with 5:04 left in the second when Potter drilled a 3pointer from the corner putting the Lady 'Cats up 14-13 before a couple of free throws from Shermyah Bracey made it 16-13.
But Ouachita came back to retake the lead, 17-16, on two free throws and a bucket by the Lady Warriors' Olivia Waters with 1:52 to go in the first half.
Rison regained the lead on Potter's basket at the 1:34 mark, sparking a 6-0 run by the La...
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