Lady Tribe gives Bunting birthday gift

Staff photo by Mike Buhler
Members of the Kennett Lady Indians basketball team pose with the championship plaque after winning the Bulldog Classic over Senath-Hornersville Saturday night at Gideon.

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The Lady Tribe used a gutsy fourth-quarter performance to pull out a 63-54 victory over the Senath-Hornersville Lady Lions in the championship game of the Bulldog Classic here Saturday night, giving Bunting her first tournament title as a head coach on of all days, her birthday.

"What a birthday," Bunting said. "A championship title was just what I wanted. It fits perfectly! My ladies told me they'd give me this for my birthday. Thank you ladies! Sweet victory, defeating the No. 1 seed and claiming a championship."

Bringing home the title for Bunting's birthday was a goal of the Lady Tribe, according to Kennett guard Jerica Wheeler.

"We wanted to come out here and do it for her birthday," Wheeler said. "She does so much stuff for us during the season. ... We just wanted to give back to her this year."

Wheeler did her part to help Bunting and Kennett win the title, scoring 13 of her team-high 18 points in the fourth quarter.

"Jerica started rolling in the fourth," said Bunting. "She showed some of her true capabilities at the end of the game. It also helped that big (Alexandra) Brown was back in the game. Those two juniors are such strong leaders for our team."

With Kennett clinging to a narrow 44-42 lead midway through the fourth quarter, Wheeler hit a bucket to push the lead to four, then Veronica Amos followed up with a 3-pointer to push the lead to 49-42.

Kennett never looked back from there.

"Jerica and Veronica hit some big shots for us in the fourth," Bunting said. "That gave us some juice -- got us going. Those were huge shots for us."

Senath-Hornersville Jamie Johnson echoed Bunting's thoughts.

"They hit a couple of shots late, hit a couple of 3s there that kind of gave them a little bit of a gap to overcome," Johnson said. "But the bottom line was this -- I was real happy with the way we played. We just didn't shoot it very well tonight (but) we're not down a bit. We know now where we're at and the things we need to fix."

Senath-Hornersville seemed to be taking control of the game as the third period ended and the final quarter began. Seleena Neal hit a pull-up jumper with 23 seconds left in the third to snap a 33-all tie, then Natalie Bibbs opened the fourth quarter with a basket and later added a free throw to give the Lady Lions a 38-33 lead -- the biggest lead by either side at that point.

But Kennett responded, getting a bucket by Brittney Williams, then getting back-to-back field goals from Wheeler to take a 39-38 lead.

Bibbs answered with a three-point play to put Senath-Hornersville back on top, but Williams hit a deuce to tie the score just a few seconds later, then Wheeler added a basket to put the Lady Indians ahead to stay at 43-41.

Much like the the first part of the fourth quarter, the first half was back and forth, with the score tied after one period at 8-all and at the half at 22 apiece.

"We weren't playing like we knew how to the first half," Wheeler said. "We were (struggling). But the second half, we all came out, stepped up, did what we had to to and took the game like we were supposed to, like coach wanted us to."

Williams shared the scoring lead with Wheeler by pumping in 18 points, while Amos added 15 in the win.

"Brittney Williams scored 18 for us," Bunting said. "She's kind of a quiet scorer. You don't realize what she's doing until the game is over and you look at her stats. She had a big game with 12 rebounds too."

McKenzie Harris and Seleena Neal each scored 13 points to pace the Lady Lions, while Megan Smith and Natalie Bibbs each finished with 10.

"Megan's going to be a good player for us," said Johnson. "She does a great job on the boards."

Saturday's tourney final was the first of possibly four meetings between Kennett and the Lady Lions this season. Senath-Hornersville hosts the Lady Tribe a week from this Thursday in a Bootheel Conference contest, plus the two schools could meet in the Lady Royals Christmas Classic and the Bootheel Conference Tournament.

"We will probably play Senath a few more times this year," Bunting said. "They play well and no doubt each time we play them it will be exciting."