LADY BEARS ADVANCE

BY STEVE WILHOIT
SPORTS WRITER

Mt. Juliet used a strong third-quarter surge to power past Rogers (Ark.) and stay in the event's winners' bracket. The Lady Bears (11-1) held the Lady Mounties (9-3) off the scoreboard for close to five minutes to start the third stanza in building a double-digit spread and never looked back in a 51-37 contest.

Mt. Juliet held a narrow 13-10 lead after a quarter and increased the margin to 22-15 at the half. A 9-0 run to start the third gave the Lady Bears a solid cushion with the advantage growing to as much as 20. The fourth period featured essentially basket-swapping.

The Lady Bears improved their shooting significantly in the second half(52.4 percent) and finished 20-of-46 for the game for 43.5 percent. The Lady Mounties were held to an 11-for 28 shooting effort (39.3 percent). The game was a well-played one as Mt. Juliet committed a mere eight turnovers to14 by Rogers.

Caya Williams fired in 21 points for the winners, while burying 10-of-14 shots.  She also added a game-high seven rebounds. Helen Mitchner added nine, all on treys.  Britt Bell dished out a game-high six assists.

Jazmin Coultas cracked double figures for Rogers with 10 points.

Mt. Juliet (51): Brown 1-2 0-0 3, Peterson 2-6 0-0 6, Bell 3-8 1-1 7, Mitchener 3-11 0-0 9, Caya Williams 10-14 1-1 21, Scott 0-0 0-0 0, Rhaney 0-0 0-0 0, Gurchiek 0-2 2-2 2, Hayes 0-0 0-0 0, Rau 0-0 0-0 0, Baugher 1-3 0-0 3.  TOTALS: 20-46 4-4 51.

Rogers (37): Hook 0-5 4-4 4, Murphy 0-4 0-0 0, Groves 0-0 1-2 1, Clark 1-2 3-3 6, Jazmin Coultas 5-5 0-0 10, Ross 3-4 0-0 9, Fusillo 0-2 0-0 0, Wilkerson 2-4 0-0 6, Harris 0-0 0-0 0, Ballard 0-1 1-2, 1, Ganoung 0-1 0-0 0 0. TOTALS: 11-28 9-11 37.

3-Point Goals: MJ-7 (Mitchner 3, Peterson 2, Brown, Baugher). RH-6 (Ross 3, Wilkerson 2, Clark).

Score by quarters:
Mt. Juliet    13    9    21    8--51
Rogers    10    5    8    14--37