For a quarter, the Junior Lady Warriors stood even with the Lady Bobcats. But once the second period began Corning began to assert their defense in taking some of EPC's key shot makers out of their game. In the process, they secured a 40-30 victory in the 3A-3 district tournament semifinals last Thursday night at Harrisburg.

"We started off doing like we wanted," said coach Bobby Lewallen of the season-ending game. "We broke their pass and had a tremendous defensive game early. But they took Brittany (Ball) out of the game and we were counting on her to step up and make the plays. They almost shut her down, though."

Ball was able to get only four points against the Lady Bobcats after scoring 18 in the win over Marmaduke Wednesday night.

EPC began by taking a 5-1 lead on a trey by Keyerah Young and a pair of free throws from Terrika Madden. Neither team was able to make much headway until the 1:46 mark when Corning tied the game up 6-all.

Madden closed out the quarter with a 3-pointer of her own as well as two more charity shots to give the Junior Lady Warriors an 11-9 lead at the end of the first period.

In the second period, EPC lost the lead twice but fought back to retake it both times. With 2:00 left in the half, though, Corning hit their second trey of the night to go up for good 20-19.

After a Junior Lady Warrior turnover, the Junior Lady Bobcats hit another 3-pointer then ended the quarter with a field goal to take a 25-20 lead into the locker room.

The third period wasn't a good one offensively for Corning as they were able to score only three points. Unfortunately, EPC couldn't take advantage of the situation as only Madden was able to score, making two baskets for four points.

Nevertheless, the Junior Lady Warriors had cut the lead by one and were down by only four going into the final stanza.

And while Ball was finally able to make a dent in the scoring, hitting for four points in the final period, only Madden was able to add to the total with a 2-pointer as well. Brookland, however doubled their total, scoring 12 to bring the Junior Lady Warriors' season to and end with the 40-28 loss.

"They got some easy baskets on us," said Lewallen. "We had some easy lay-ups we missed and at some point you simply have to start making some shots if you expect to win."

Madden led the scoring with 14 while Young followed with seven. Ball finished with five with Denisha Madden and Taneshia Jones scoring two each.

Brookland's George led her team with 11.

To get to the semifinal game with Corning, EPC had to dispatch Marmaduke which they did rather handily Wednesday night in a storm delayed game secheduled for the night before.

"We played on of our best games all year against Marmaduke," said Lewallen. "And it was a good time for it right here in the tournament. We've been preparing for them the past two weeks and it paid off."

EPC scored 13 points in the first period then matched it in the second while the Junior Lady Greyhounds were able to only put up 11. With a 26-11 lead at the half, some of the caution was taken off of the Junior Lady Warriors' effort and they were able to play a more relaxed game the second half.

As a result, Marmaduke could gain back only four points of the 15 they need to pull even in the game and as a result, their season ended with the 39-28 EPC victory.

Following Ball and her game leading 18 points was Terrika Madden with nine, Keyerah Young eight, Shaniqua Monk three and Teria Young one.

For Marmaduke, Nolen finished with 10.

"It was a good season," Lewallen concluded. "We finished 11-8 and taught these kids some fundamentals. This will be a very outstanding group as they get into high school. They're big and fast and those are the two things you can't teach. I'm looking forward to the next few years."