| Barbee's last-second score lifts Riverdale to title |
|
By: JEFF JORDAN, Special to The Post
|
Posted: Monday, February 22, 2010 11:38 pm
|
 Email  Print
|
The District 7AAA girls championship game was a thriller with Riverdale (23-2) winning 56-54 on a coast-to-coast contested layup with one second left by Shacobia Barbee.
How close was it? Rebounds and turnovers were almost even and, although Riverdale led most of the way, the leads were small throughout the game.
Riverdale got the early lead forcing five first-quarter Blackman turnovers, using full court pressure.
Blackman (20-6) adjusted and the game was close until Blackman tied it with eight seconds left, 54-54. That set the stage for Barbee’s heroics.
Riverdale led at all the breaks – by 3 at the end of quarter one, 2 at the half (26-24) and 5 at the end of the third.
Scoring honors for Blackman went to NeTanya Jackson with 15, including a surprising three pointer, and Kelsey Nowlin with 11, 9 in the 4th quarter. Katie Smith, Kortnay Cox and Shelby Campbell had 8 each. Campbell and Cox both tallied 34 for the tournament.
For Riverdale, Barbee had 28 with seven, including the game winner, in the all important fourth quarter, Olivia Jones had 13 and Tyisha Petty had 8. Note to Riverdale opponents; Barbee, who scored 46 points in only two games, is a sophomore, Jones and Petty are freshmen.
With the loss, Blackman finishes second and will host third-place finisher Lincoln County on Friday in Region play, while Riverdale will host Columbia on the same night.
In front of a large crowd at La Vergne High in the consolation game, the La Vergne girls (25-3) bounced back from a listless performance versus Blackman last week and beat Siegel (18-10), 60-42.
The Lady Wolverines got off to another slow start in this game and trailed 18-11 at the end of the first quarter but got it going and won the last three quarters 49-24.
The result left La Vergne in the third-place slot going into the Region on Friday night while Siegel finished fourth.
In the scoring department, Siegel was led by Shikera Johnson with 14 and Shanice Cason with 10. Cason had 37 points in the three tournament games.
La Vergne was led in scoring by Jasmine Dale with 16 (33 points in two tournament games) and LaQuinta Jefferson with 13. Jasmine Brimm and Kayla Hunt both tallied 8.
The most meaningful stat was La Vergne’s 60 percent shooting from the floor, hitting 24 of 40 shots and winning the 3rd quarter 17 – 5.
The girl’s region begins Friday night at the higher seed. This puts La Vergne traveling to Lawrence County and Siegel traveling to Shelbyville. Can either or both win? Of course, but it might be best to bring the A game.
After the girls play Friday, the boys will play Saturday at the higher seed and then the region tournament moves to Shelbyville.
As the 7AAA Tournament wrapped up girl’s play, the regular season All District Team was announced and here are the members:
Riverdale – Jaclissa Haislip and Ashley Henry, Blackman’s Shelby Campbell and Kelsey Nowlin, La Vergne’s Jasmine Dale, Stephanie Myers, Jasmine Brimm and LaQuinta Jefferson, Siegel’s Shanice Cason, Smyrna’s Katie Williams and Oakland’s Ellen Riggins.
The Coach of the Year was Riverdale’s Hillary Hodges.
The All Tournament Team members were Shelby Campbell, Jaclissa Haislip, Shanice Cason, Jasmine Dale, Kelsey Nowlin and Tyisha Petty.
And finally, what a night for Riverdale’s Shacobia Barbee. She not only scored 28 points but was also named the regular season MVP and the tournament MVP.
The schedule for Tuesday night: 6 the Smyrna boys vs Riverdale in the consolation game and Oakland vs Siegel will follow in championship action. |
|
Digg
Facebook
MySpace
StumbleUpon
Google
Yahoo!