PCA girls make South State semis

Published 12:00 am Friday, February 15, 2002

[02/15/02]NATCHEZ The first game of the South State tournament wasn’t a thing of beauty for the Porters Chapel Academy Lady Eagles.

Fortunately for them, their opponent played even uglier.

PCA (20-9) committed 28 turnovers, but forced Central (La.) into 31 and held the Lady Pioneers (24-8) without a field goal in the first quarter to build a double-digit lead before cruising to a 64-53 win.

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The victory assures PCA of a trip to the Academy-A state tournament and sets up a semifinal game today at 2:30 p.m. against tournament host Trinity.

“It’s going to be a tough game because it’s at their house, and even during the regular season it’s tough to play in somebody else’s house,” said PCA’s Kayla Barnette, who had 17 points and 10 rebounds against Central.

K.K. Willis scored 18 of her game-high 23 points in the second half and Brady Willis scored 11 of her 13 points in the first quarter as the Lady Eagles took a 15-3 lead.

PCA went to a full-court press early and kept up the pressure even when Central was able to break it. The Lady Pioneers were 0-for-9 from the field in the first quarter, committed 10 turnovers and put up a half-dozen airballs.

“A little bit of both,” Central coach Ginger Snead said when asked if her team’s effort was a result of nerves or PCA’s defense. “They were hitting and we weren’t. We couldn’t hit a shot.”

The Lady Eagles led by as many as 18 in the first half, but Central went on a 7-0 run in the last two minutes of the second quarter to cut it to 30-19 at halftime.

PCA started the third quarter with a 10-3 run to put the lead back at 18 points and were never in serious trouble in the second half. Central managed to cut the deficit to 10 points on several occasions as Mitchell Willis brought some of his younger players in off the bench, but the Lady Pioneers never got it back to single digits.

“There was one time we were up by 18 or 20 points and I thought we had it, but we let them come back in it,” Barnette said.

Mitchell Willis said he wanted to use the opportunity to clear his bench, but it was forced in part by PCA’s foul trouble. All five of PCA’s starters finished with at least three fouls and one, Brittany White, fouled out midway through the fourth quarter after scoring three points and dishing off four assists.

“I never had the same five on the floor after we got that first lead. We tried to let everybody play and keep the cushion at the same time,” Mitchell Willis said.

Again, though, any problems PCA had were shared by Central. The Lady Pioneers had two starters foul out and another finish with four fouls, and the teams combined to shoot 64 free throws. Snead praised her bench for keeping Central in the game. Central’s reserves outscored PCA’s backups 19-6 and were 6-for-16

“My bench came in and brought us back,” she said.

Casie Hutto led Central with 18 points and four steals, Melissa Anderson had 16 points and seven rebounds and Kelly Daniels came off the bench to contribute seven points, 10 rebounds and three steals.