Lady Devils honor teammate in victory over Paragould

Lady Devils honor teammate in victory over Paragould

West Memphis girls best Lady Rams as they ‘play for Jaay’

By Billy Woods

WM School District It was a special night for the West Memphis Lady Devils in ways more than one.

The team came decked out in purple warm-ups giving tribute to fallen teammate Jatava Murray, who was killed over the Thanksgiving holidays in a car crash. The warm- ups read “West Memphis Strong. Play for Jaay.”

Murray’s parents, David and Sally, were honored after the game in a ceremony at mid-court as the Lady Devils presented them with a signed basketball and a poster team picture with Jatava in it.

The Lady Devils topped it all off with their biggest win of the season, a 38-35 victory Friday night at Lehr Arena over Paragould, which jumbled the standings in the 5A-East Conference.

“It was definitely a special night and a special win,” West Memphis head coach Sonja Tate commented. “A lot of our kids were playing with emotion and they just really brought it all out on the court.”

Tate’s troops (9-6 overall, 2-3 in the conference) beat the team that held second place in league play. Dropping to 1-4 in the conference would have put the Lady Devils in a hole nearing the midway point of the 5A-East schedule .

In a back-and-forth game that featured two key defensive stops by the Lady Devils, in the end it came down to two free throws by junior point guard Aryah Hazley to seal the win for the Lady Devils.

Hazley led all scorers with 21 points, or 55 percent of the team’s offensive output.

“I’ve had some long talks with Aryah about her role on this team and the leadership aspect of it,” said Tate. “As she goes, we go.

If she doesn’t score we’re not winning. She has to embrace that and welcome the challenge to have to do everything.”

It was Hazley’s basket off a steal with three seconds left that pulled the Lady Devils even with Paragould (13-5, 3-2) at the end of the third quarter. But Paragould’s Alex Brengard swished a three-pointer to open the fourth quarter to grab the lead back for the Lady Rams.

The hosts seized the lead for good (36-35) with 2:43 to play in the game on a basket from Tierra Bradley, assisted by Hazley.

Tate’s club got two dazzling defensive plays inside the two-minute mark.

The first came on an intercepted pass by sophomore Ta’Nya Burnett and another when Paragould’s Kalyssa Hollis missed a shot inside that was heavily contested by Bradley, who also outfought Hollis or the rebound.

With the intent of holding the ball the rest of the way in the hands of Hazley, Tate screamed for a timeout, but instead all she got from the refs was a whistle for a five-second call on Hazley.

On the other end, Hollis was called for double dribble and the Lady Devils had one more shot at holding it.

This time Hazley was fouled with 5.7 seconds to play.

She drained both free throws and all Paragould could manage was a halfcourt heave that went unanswered.

Senior Kenya Freeman added 7 points for West Memphis while Aniaya Dean and Bradley each scored 4. Paragould’s Hollis paced the Ram attack with 15 points.

A few of the Lady Devils poured out their emotions after the game when the ceremony neared.

“I considered Jatava the backbone of the team,” Tate said. “When I needed someone put in check, she would always tell me ‘Coach I’ll talk to her.’ Jatava was a person I could always go to, and I think the rest of the girls also felt that way. She wasn’t merely important to us on the court, but off it as well.”