Strong start, slow finish for Lady Jays

 

Harrah – It was a time-out taken by Lady Jays basketball coach Terry Carris not even two minutes into the game that sparked his ball club, but it was not enough on the road in Harrah.

 

It was a game of two halves with the Lady Jays owning the first half and Harrah owning the second half. Harrah held Guthrie to just 11 second half points and held on for a 54-41 win to improve to 16-7 overall and 10-4 in the Suburban Conference. Meanwhile, Guthrie falls back to .500 with a 9-9 record and 4-6 in the conference.

 

The Lady Panthers jumped out to a 6-0 lead and Guthrie committed four turnovers on their first four possessions, but after the time-out out scored Harrah 14-7 in the next six minutes to hold a 14-13 first quarter lead and that was just the beginning.

 

Guthrie started the second quarter with a 12-2 run to take an 11-point lead at 26-15 and Harrah had to spend a time-out, but much like the Lady Jays in the first quarter the time out proved to be big. Harrah finished the last five minutes out scoring Guthrie 12-4, but the Lady Jays still lead at the half 30-27.

 

Each Lady Jay starter hit a 3-point shot in the first half, including Jill Davis nailing her first two long distance shots. As a team they hit their first six from beyond the arc, but managed to hit one of their next five.

 

Guthrie was hampered all game with foul trouble. Melinda Murillo picked up her third foul midway in the second quarter and two minutes later Ashley Shields was forced to go to the bench with her third foul. Davis eventually fouled out in the fourth quarter.

 

Harrah, who paced by senior guard Chelsa Robinson’s 26 points, tied the game at 33-all and from that point out scored the Lady Jays 21-8 in the final 13-minutes of the game.

 

Guthrie Scoring: Ashley Shields 12, Mikaela Murillo 10, Gracynn Smith 8, Jill Davis 6, Melinda Murillo 5