For now, Lady Mustangs two short for 5A-West play
By Donna L. Stephens \ Correspondent
Thursday, January 8, 2009 2:04 PM CST
Central Arkansas Christian’s Lady Mustangs lost more than two games at last week’s M.T. Rice/Mars Snackfood Tournament in Waco, Texas.
Senior guard Jordan Fisher suffered a broken right hand in the second-round game and is lost for about a month. CAC coach Steve Quattlebaum said she would probably return about the time junior forward Linzy Elkins does. Elkins was feared lost for the season with a knee injury.
So the Lady Mustangs (12-2) will make their 5A-West debut Friday at Mustang Mountain against Siloam Springs, a Class 5A semifinalist last year, without two players Quattlebaum had counted on early to start.
“We’ve had a chance to see just about everybody in the conference, and it’s a tough conference, especially without those two for at least a month,” he said. “But I think our kids will rise to the occasion. We’ve got some good kids on the bench waiting for an opportunity to play, and they’re going to get it.”
Siloam Springs reached the semifinals of last year, falling to eventual champion Camden Fairview. CAC split with the Lady Cardinals a year ago.
“They’ve got several starters back from last year,” Quattlebaum said of the Lady Panthers. “They’re probably the favorite for the conference, but it’ll be good for us to play without (Fisher and Elkins) for a while. They should probably be back for most of the second round (of the conference schedule), so it could work to our advantage.”
The girls game will begin at 6 p.m. Friday.
CAC beat Argyle High of Denton, 61-50; and Waco High, 52-51, before falling to the host team, Midway, 70-33, in the semifinals and Cedar Park, 56-47, in consolation play.
Midway (17-4) beat The Woodlands College Park, 67-53, for its fourth consecutive tourney championship and the 22nd in program history.
Robinson beat Crowley for the consolation title, 39-27, CAC beat Argyle, 61-50, after building the lead to 29.
“We subbed, but he only had nine players, so he kept pressing us and I ended up having to put my starters back in at the end,” Quattlebaum said.
On Tuesday at 11:30, the Lady Mustangs took on Waco High, during which they built a 13-point halftime lead but saw the Lady Lions rally behind a 3-point barrage by Channel Beverly to take a lead in the final minute. Beverly made five treys in the second half, but CAC answered with Frizzell inside off a loose ball for the game-winner.
Elliott led with 18 points. Frizzell added 13. Fisher got hurt early in the first half while going after a loose ball. During the tussle, her hand hit the wall.
Six hours after that game started, CAC tipped off against host, Midway, which hadn’t played since the day before. Even though Waco High lost its first game Tuesday, it didn’t play again until 7.
“We didn’t have anything left,” he said. “My plan was to win that first game by 20 and rest my starters, but it was a tough game and I had to put them back in. I knew we’d have trouble (against Midway).
“We were 18 down, so I subbed five, and she never took hers out.”
The difference went from 18 to 37. Haley Hatcher led with nine.
On New Year’s Eve, the Lady Mustangs came back to face Cedar Park.
“We’d really about had it by then,” said Quattlebaum, whose team hadn’t played prior to the tournament since Dec. 13.
Hatcher and Elliott led with 15 and 12 points, respectively.
He said Fisher would be replaced by some combination of Shelby Tankersly, Katie Pennington, Sammy Brown and Precious Jeffrey.
