THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Hot Springs High School Athletics

El Dorado struggled to make shots in both senior varsity games Tuesday as Hot Springs walked into Wildcat Arena and swept both girls and boys league contests. The Lady Wildcats fell 56-54 in overtime before the Wildcats lost 57-46. El Dorado’s girls held a 9-point lead with two minutes left in regulation but couldn’t protect it. The Lady Wildcats missed three straight 1-and-1 opportunities before Hot Springs’ Imani Honey scored on a reverse lay-up at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. Honey converted a three-point play to begin the extra session. El Dorado’s Jessica Morton hit a free throw to cut it to 54-52 but the Lady Trojans hit two at the line. The Lady Wildcats pulled to within two when Adrianne Larry hit a short jumper with 47 seconds left in OT. Hot Springs then missed a shot, allowing El Dorado an opportunity to tie. The Lady Wildcats set up Larry for a 3-pointer, which rimmed out. Breya Clark went up high to claim the rebound with about five seconds left. El Dorado passed the ball back out to the perimeter but never got a shot off before the final buzzer. It was the second straight dramatic home loss for the Lady Wildcats, who fell to 2-5. “I’m not near as mad about this game as I was the last one because I thought we gave the effort,” said El Dorado coach Destinee Rogers. “For the most part, we stuck to the game plan. The game plan worked. Hot Springs is a really good team. They’re going to contend for a 5A championship.” The Lady Trojans improved to 6-2 on the season. Honey led the way with 21 points while Ariana Guinn contributed 17 and Nya Moody 11 for Coach Josh Smith, son of former Union coach Gary Don Smith. “Coach Rogers does a heck of a job. She’s always got a good game plan. She kept us off balanced,” said Smith. “Her big girl played very well. They fed her. We couldn’t get adjusted to her in the first half. “We did a better job in the second half. We were able to apply some pressure and got ourselves back in it and Imani Honey found a way to win it for us at the end.” El Dorado’s “big girl” was Kierra Boone, who provided a boost off the bench with 10 points, most coming off high-low feeds. Martie Wade played big for the Lady Wildcats with 14 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter. Tasia Richardson scored 10 and Grace Murry contributed nine. Murry hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the second quarter, which sparked El Dorado to a 28-16 halftime advantage. Hot Springs closed the gap to 37-34 going into the fourth. Wade converted a three-point play after picking up a steal. Seconds later, she turned another steal into a tough, contest lay-up. After the Lady Trojans closed to within 44-40, Wade popped a 3-pointer midway in the quarter. The lead was seven after Richardson hit two free throws with 2:07 left. Hot Springs turned up the heat as Honey drove for a bucket, then hit two free throws. Wade scored for El Dorado before Moody’s two free throws cut the deficit to 51-48 with 1:05 remaining. The Lady Wildcats then missed three straight 1-and-1 opportunities. Jaidan Thomas hit a free throw before Honey weaved through traffic, under the basket and hit a reverse lay-up in a crowd at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. “Positive thing I can say about this team, we’re getting better. Game-by-game, we’re getting better,” said Rogers. “We’re just young, right now. We’re inexperienced and we’re trying to figure out a way to win. That’s just the bottom line. We’re trying to figure out a way to win. “We’re right there in it. This thing is far from over. We’ve got a long way to go. We’re just going to continue to keep fighting, keep working and keep preparing for every game. “Good things are coming for this program. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. The big thing is, my kids can’t get down. We just have to keep that fight in us and we will.” In the boys game, Hot Springs used a 12-3 run to start the second quarter and opened up a 26-21 lead. The Wildcats cut the margin to 32-27 at the half. El Dorado pulled to within 38-36 on Joe Ramey’s bucket with 1:10 left in the third. But, the Trojans answered with a 6-2 spurt. Ramey’s 3-pointer triggered a 7-1 run. Ramey had a steal and lay-in before Bishop Foster tied the game at 45-45 with two free throws with 3:46 left to play. Hot Springs reeled off the next 10 points as the Wildcats went ice cold from the field. Ramey and B.J. Johnson led El Dorado with 14 and 12, respectively, while Foster scored nine. The Wildcats converted 17-of-27 at the free throw line. Hot Springs was led by J.J. Walker with 15 while Santiair Thomas and Curtis Frierson added 13 and 10, respectively.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Hot Springs High School Athletics

EL DORADO SWEPT BY HOT SPRINGS

TONY BURNS

El Dorado News-Times | 12/13/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Hot Springs High School Athletics