By Shawn C. White
Well, they’ve dominated every tournament they’ve played in this season. Why wouldn’t they dominate the Division IV Nonselect playoffs and head to back-to-back state championships. The No.1-seeded Lady Hornets (31-3) dominated the No.5 seeded Lakeview Lady Gators (26-4) in a 60-29 win at the LHSAA Girls’ Marsh Madness at Southeastern University Center in Hammond, LA.
“We knew coming into the game it was going to be a good defensive game,” Arcadia head coach Lakinya Currie told LHSAA Network. “Lakeview has a great defense so I wasn’t surprised about the score. When you have these two young ladies (DeAsia Alexander and Justice Young). We knew they were going to come out and do what they needed to do to get victory.”
The Lady Hornets had two players with double-doubles as Justice Young led scoring with 21 points and had 11 rebounds. DeAsia Alexander scored 12 points and snagged 15 rebounds with 14 being defensive rebounds. Alexander also recorded 8 blocks in the win. Ryhanna Abney also bucketed 12 points in the win.
Lakeview struggled shooting in the semifinal matchup with only 21.6% field goal percentage. The rim had a lid on it from beyond the arc for the Lady Gators as they were 1-for-11 from 3-point land. The leading scorer for the Lady Gators was Timberlyn Washington with 11 points. Alonna Henderson added 10 points for Lakeview.
Arcadia defense held the Campti-based Lady Gators to only eight shots in the first quarter and Arcadia had a slight 9-4 lead after the first quarter.
The matchup stayed close in the second quarter as Arcadia expanded the lead 21-12 out scoring Lakevew 12–8. Lakeview could have closed the gap but were 0-4 from the charity stripe.
Arcadia slowly expanded their lead again in the third quarter. Lakeview struggled to score as they shot 4-for-18 (22.2%) in the third quarter. Arcadia led 35-22 heading into the final quarter.
The wheels came off for Lakeview as the Lady Gator only hit one field goal in the fourth quarter. Arcadia compounded the Lakeview woes as they couldn’t miss. The Lady Hornets shot 10-for-14 on field goals and 5-for-9 from the charity stripe. Arcadia out scored Lakeview 25-7 in the final quarter and pushed to the 60-29 win.
Arcadia will be competing for a seventh state championship in a rematch of last year’s state semifinals against Oakdale. No. 2 Oakdale knocked off White Castle 57-50 in the other Division IV Nonselect semifinal. Oakdale brought heartbreak to the Lady Hornets last season with a last second buzzer beater to advance to an eventual state championship.
Arcadia will face Oakdale on Friday afternoon at 4 pm in Hammond for the Division IV Non Select State Championship.