Lady Devils top Earle at Classic

Lady Devils top Earle at Classic

AWM finishes strong in season opener

WM School District If Thursday's game is any indication, the West Memphis Lady Devils should be fine in games emphasizing athleticism.

With senior point guard Paris Perkins driving the ship, the Lady Devils seized early control and finished with a flourish for a 70-51 season-opening victory over Earle in the Marion Classic.

Perkins scored 9 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter as her teammates put any hopes of an Earle upset to rest. She also kicked out for several assists to fellow senior Taylor Johnson, who canned four three-pointers on her way to a team-high 21 points.

'We started out very composed and then we were able to push the tempo later in the game,' said Lady Devils' head coach Shelia Burns. 'Both teams were gassed at the end.'

The Lady Devils took control early by running out to a 10-0 lead as Earle, last season's Class 2A state champions, missed its first nine shots. West Memphis led 17-4 at the end of the first quarter, but the Lady Bulldogs pulled to within striking distance a few times on the play of supersophomore Roshara Scott, who pumped in a gamehigh total of 25 points despite being shut out in the first quarter.

'She should be one of the top players in Northeast Arkansas this year…and she's only a sophomore,' Burns said of Scott. 'It's going to be scary to watch when she's a senior.'

The closest Earle got was 26-21 when Veronique Sanders swished a threepointer early in the third quarter. But as she did often in the game, West Memphis' Johnson answered back with an exclamation.

Johnson drained a triple right after Sanders' trey and then minutes later she nailed another from long distance to get the Lady Devils' lead back to double digits at 34-23.

West Memphis led 48-36 after three quarters and closed out the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run in the final three minutes. Perkins made three key baskets during that spurt.

'Perkins is fun to watch,' Burns said. 'But she's sporadic. She's liable to hit every shot or she's liable to miss every shot. Effort, though, is not an issue with her. She's going to play her butt off at all times.'

Senior center Ty Bullins added 8 points for West Memphis while Keara Williams scored 6, Nikki Higgs added 5 and T.K. Wesley contributed 4.

Alex Logan was the only other double-figure scorer for Earle with 12.

The Lady Devils play today at 4:45 p.m. in the Classic against perennial power Little Rock Parkview.

By Billy Woods