Mena LadyCats Advance to Regionals

The Mena LadyCats needed one win in the 7-4A Conference Tournament last week at the Union Bank Center to earn a regional tournament berth this week. The LadyCats secured that victory on Tuesday, February 12^th by defeating Malvern 46-33.

The LadyCats fell in the semifinals on Thursday to the eventual tournament champions from De Queen 47-39. Then the Mena girls lost a heartbreaker in the third place consolation contest Saturday afternoon to Bauxite 44-42 in overtime.

In Thursday night’s semifinals, Mena went toe-to-toe with the talented Lady Leopards who are 25-2 on the year. After the LadyCats cut De Queen’s lead to 21-19 midway through the second quarter, the Lady Leopards went on a 7-0 run to end the half and take a 28-19 lead into the locker room. Mena cut the De Queen lead to 37-34 at the end of the third quarter, but could never get over the hump as De Queen outscored Mena 10-5 in the fourth quarter to prevail 47-39.

Emily Wagner led Mena with 14. Hannah Stockton and Paige Evans added nine each. Josie Burke led De Queen with 19.

In the third place game Saturday, heard live on KQOR 105.3, the Ladycats jumped to a 19-11 halftime lead behind sophomore Emily Wagner’s eight points. Paige Evans had four.

Wagner hit her third three pointer of the game to start the third quarter.  This shot extended Mena’s lead to 11 but Bauxite began whittling away at the lead.

The Lady Miners cut the Mena lead to 25-23 at the end of the third quarter. It was a see-saw contest in the fourth quarter.

Wagner hit another big trey to tie the game at 38 with :45 seconds to play. After Bauxite regained the lead on two free throws, the Lady Miners fouled sophomore Hannah Stockton with one second left in regulation. Stockton calmly sank both free throws to send the game to overtime tied at 40.

But Bauxite outscored Mena 4-2 in the extra period to claim the 44-42 win and the third seed in this week’s regional tournament. Mena will be the fourth seed from 7-4A.

The LadyCats, now 13-13 on the season, take on highly regarded Star City, the 8-4A Conference champions, in the opening round of the 4A-South Regional Tournament Wednesday at 7:00 in the Union Bank Center. The Lady Bulldogs are 23-4 on the year. Catch the action Live with Phillip Wilson and Todd Aynes on KQOR 105.3.

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Jeri Pearson

Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.

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