Lady Tigers win third district title in a row

VAN BUREN — District championships and the Neelyville Lady Tigers basketball team have become synonymous over the years.

“We're always confident we can win, but know that it's not always for sure (that we will),” Neelyville junior Parker Ernst said after the Lady Tigers won their third district title in a row Saturday night. “But our confidence is always what keeps us going, what keeps us crazy — as I always say about Neelyville — keeps us hyped and ready to go at all times.”

The Lady Tigers won their third district title in a row by defeating the Alton Lady Comets 64-43 to earn the Class 2 District 2 championship at Van Buren High School. It is the third district title in a row for Neelyville and the 11th in the last 14 seasons.

“The feeling is always the same — it's amazing,” Neelyville senior Jade Crosswhite said. “It's the best feeling in the world. You feel like you're on top of the world.”

Despite beating Alton twice in the regular season, Neelyville coach Becky Hale knew Saturday's third matchup with the Lady Comets would not be easy.

“We worked hard for it,” Hale said. “This is our third time playing Alton and we had to tweak a few things here and there, but we were able to get the job done.”

Alton took an early 2-0 lead Saturday night, but the Lady Tigers quickly ran off nine straight points and never trailed again.

Neelyville led 14-9 after the opening period, then opened the second quarter on an 18-2 run, taking a 32-11 lead on Anna Lack’s basket with less than 3 1/2 minutes left before halftime.

“We just (turned it) up on defense a little bit, got the first-quarter jitters out and (were) able to block out and rebound and play together as a team,” Hale said. “That's what we're about.”

The Lady Comets scored five of the first seven points of the third quarter to briefly get the Neelyville lead back down to 14 points (38-24), but back-to-back 3-pointers by Jade Crosswhite midway through the period pushed the lead back to 20 points at 44-24.

“She's been stepping up for us all year,” Hale said of Crosswhite. “She's playing great right now, stepping it up on offense and defense — and I'm proud of her.”

The Lady Tigers were never seriously challenged again the rest of the way.

Lack paced Neelyville with 16 points, while Crosswhite and Ernst each had 12 and Haylynn Crockett finished with eight. Ernst’s 12 points also included her scoring her 1,500th career point in the first quarter on Saturday.

Alee Willard led Alton with 15 points.

The Lady Tigers next will play at Malden in a Class 2 sectional game at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.