Paradise sophomore guard Brittan Richey breaks past a Mount Vernon defender in the area round Friday night. Richey had 15 points in the Lady Panthers’ 45-36 win. MIKE HALL | FOR THE MESSENGER
While the Lady Panthers’ nerves may have gotten in their way in the first 8 minutes of play against Mount Vernon on Friday, they couldn’t keep Paradise down for much longer.
Paradise (24-10) used a 17-point second quarter to take a lead and never relinquished it, beating the Lady Tigers 45-36 for the area championship.
“This round has kind of always been the hump for us … and the monkey on the back of this program,” Paradise coach Michael Barnes said. “Madi [Gentry’s] steal at the end of the first half and Allie [McCormick] scoring kind of gave us some momentum. And in the second half, it was just about slowing down, keeping our hands off and making [Mount Vernon] work harder. This was a big win for this team and the whole program.”
Mount Vernon quickly put Paradise into an 8-point hole to open the game. Between the Lady Tigers’ outside shot and defense, the Lady Panthers found themselves down 10-2 just 2 minutes into the game.
Paradise guard Brittan Richey found some offensive success towards the end of the quarter to cut Mount Vernon’s lead to 3, and then she dialed it up a notch in the second frame.
Richey piloted the Paradise offense in the second frame with 7 points. After a back-and-forth quarter, McCormick scored 3 points in the last minute to put the Lady Panthers ahead of Mount Vernon 24-22 going into halftime.
Richey was Paradise’s leading scorer with 15 points. Even coming off of the flu couldn’t stop the sophomore guard.
“We all knew how big of a game this was, and I think we were just scared at the beginning,” she said. “But once we started clicking as a team, we were able to find those open shots and gain some confidence. We always play our best when we’re working together.”
Jayci Barnes kicked off the second half with an open layup assisted by Kimber Euler. The bucket lit a quick 6-0 run for Paradise to go up 28-22 and force a Mount Vernon timeout.
“I told them we had to be faster and get out in transition,” Barnes said. “That’s really what all of our runs were about — someone leaking out a little and getting the ball down quicker.”
The Lady Tigers’ timeout worked, and Mount Vernon climbed back up to only trail 33-31 at the close of the third quarter.
Barnes deployed a 1-2-2 zone in the fourth quarter that he said he’d been saving all game for the right moment. His play calling was the ultimate difference-maker, with the Paradise guards blowing up the offensive sets with their perimeter defense and the bigs swatting away a multitude of shots down low.
“We saw on film that the zone would give them trouble,” Richey said. “When we were able to execute those traps, we knew that they weren’t good at breaking out of them.”
Paradise’s two-way play helped the Lady Panthers secure the win on a 14-5 run in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Panthers will play Tatum in the regional semifinal next week. Game details will be published when announced.
Tatum beat Hooks 55-45 Thursday night.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these girls for how hard they work together and how much they love each other. I think it shows in the way they play,” Barnes said. “This has been such a fun ride with this team, and I don’t think anybody is ready for it to be over.”
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