Shorthanded Lady Devils win second straight

Shorthanded Lady Devils win second straight

WM girls roll despite two key players missing time due to injuries

WM School District The West Memphis Lady Devils are trying to buy some time until starters Ty Bullins and Nikki Higgs return from injuries.

They had very little trouble doing that on Tuesday night at Lehr Arena as the West Memphis girls posted an easy 63-37 triumph over Blytheville.

Bullins and Higgs, out for the last 10 days with sprained ankles are probable for the team's appearance in the Lady Dragon Classic in Collierville, Tenn., next week.

In winning their second straight, the Lady Devils (6-4 overall, 2-2 in the 5A/6A-East Conference) got 56 of their 63 points from the trio of Paris Perkins, Keara Williams and Taylor Johnson.

Perkins was all over the floor defensively, turning several of her game-high 28 points into breakaway layups. Williams hit a season- high total of 16 points and Johnson, who had two three-pointers, added 12.

'With Bullins and Higgs out, we were questionable tonight for this game,' said West Memphis Head Coach Shelia Burns. 'But I was very pleased with how (Perkins, Williams and Johnson) came through.'

West Memphis jumped out to a 15-2 lead at the end of the first quarter, but Blytheville was able to shave that deficit to 45-32 by the early moments of the fourth quarter.

That's when Perkins hit a mid-range jumper, Johnson followed with a three-ball and Perkins stole an inbounds pass for another layup to push the score to 51-32 with 3:24 to play in the game.

'We had a spell there where we were miscommunicating on defense and not rotating,' said Burns.

'But we got it together well for most of the fourth quarter.'

The Lady Devils will face Memphis Melrose on Dec.

27 at 4:30 p.m. at Collierville.

By Billy Woods