Apparently, the Woodlawn Lady Bears' late-season turnaround is still underway.
After making a run to the 8-2A District Tournament championship game, the Lady Bears responded with a third-place finish at the Class 2A South Region Tournament last week at Acorn High School. They will face Mountainburg in the first round of the state tournament at 4 p.m. today (Wednesday, Feb. 29) at Mansfield High School.
Mountainburg brings as 24-5 record into the tournament as the no. 2 seed from the West Region. The Lady Bears are 18-15 overall and the no. 3 seed from the South Region.
Woodlawn won just one of its first eight games to start 2024, but managed to pull of a 45-41 win the regular season finale at Rison. The Lady Bears backed that up by upsetting the no. 4 and no. 2 seeds in the 8-2A District Tournament at Woodlawn before finally coming up short against Fordyce in the district finals, 53-48.
That momentum carried over into last week's regional tournament as the Lady Bears knocked off Murfreesboro, 46-41, in the first round to earn a spot in the state tournament. The fell to the 7-2A top seed and tournament host Acorn, 55-26, in the semifinals on Friday before bouncing back with a 41-33 win over Spring Hill on Saturday to take the South Region's no. 3 seed into state tournament..
Here is a look back at each of Woodlawn's regional games.
Woodlawn 41, Spring Hill 33
The Woodlawn Lady Bears were able to shake off a lopsided loss to Acorn in the regional semifinals on Friday to bounce back with a 41-33 win over the Spring Hill Lady Bears on Saturday to finish third in the tournament.
Blakelee Adams got Spring Hill off to a fast start, scoring 11 of her 17 points in the first quarter to give her Lady Bears a 15-8 advantage over Woodlawn at the end of the opening frame.
However, Spring Hill cooled considerablye in both the second and third quarters as Woodlawn began to get its offense in gear. A 3 from Kelsi Mack and five points form Anna Fitzgibbon helped pull the Lady Bears even…