Finishing as the second best 3A team in the state was clearly not the way the EPC Lady Warriors wanted to end the season. Nevertheless, they tearfully accepted the runner-up trophy following their heartbreaking 55-51 loss to Marshall at Hot Springs last Friday afternoon. Even with the loss, the Lady Warriors concluded another very successful season with a 30-4 record. (Tribune photo/Dan Brawner) [Click to enlarge]

When one player on a girls high school team scores 45 points, tying a state finals' record, it usually means that the team in question comes out on top. That's especially true when said team goes out to a 16-point lead halfway through the second quarter.

But even though these things were true for the Lady Warriors (30-4) Friday at the Summit Arena in Hot Springs, they fell for the fourth time in as many tries to the Marshall Lady Bobcats (28-7), 55-51. It was Marshall's second consecutive Class 3A state championship.

Jordan Madden was the player with 45 points by the end of the game. She more than doubled the top scorers for the Lady Bobcats. Unfortunately, for EPC, though, Madden was almost the entire show for the Lady Warriors.

Clearly, it was a case of Marshall doing the best they could against Madden, a junior who has committed to play for Baylor after her senior year, while focusing the bulk of their defensive effort to shutting down the rest of the Lady Warriors. Also as clearly, the strategy worked. Only Katelyn Armstrong, Jocelyn Joplin and Carla Kemp were able to add points, scoring two each for the game.

"Jordan is pretty unique," said coach Bobby Lewallen in the press conference following the game. "When she wants to score, she pretty much can. But she just wore herself out. We didn't tell the girls at the half that she had all the points. She was exhausted and we tried to get her out and give her a break, but she was obviously so important to the team that we couldn't leave her out for long."

The game started quietly enough with Madden scoring her first four points off of free throws. Then she hit two field goals off of a Becca Ross rebound and her own put-back to put EPC up 8-0 with 3:08 gone in the game.

The lead held for nearly three minutes until, with 1:55 left in the quarter, Westin Taylor dropped in a jumper for the Lady Bobcats' first points. Madden responded :10 later with her first three-pointer of the game for an 11-2 lead. Westin answered back with a trey of her own to cut the lead back to eight, 13-5.

Madden put the Lady Warriors up by nine again with a bucket and a follow-up charity shot. The after Marshall's Jordan, Jordan Cotton, hit a pair for free throws, Madden closed out the half with a two-point jumper for a 16-7 lead.

"I don't know if we ever really overcame her," said Marshall coach Mat Stewart of Madden. "I'm still shaking."

At least for the first 1:50 of the second quarter, Stewart and company were not able to overcome Madden as kept pouring in the baskets, finally giving the Lady Warriors their 16-point lead with a trey at the 1:50 mark.

At the time it looked as if there was no stopping Madden and the Lady Warriors' march to their first state title. But with the phenom running out of steam, the Marshall girls saw their chance and began to claw their way back.

While EPC came up dry the final 6:10 of the half, Andrea Loggins and Cotton hit a trey and a field goal each to cut the Lady Warrior lead to just six at the half, 26-20.

"But we knew that was going to be trouble," said Lewallen of the fact that none of the other Lady Warriors had been able to score. "We knew somebody else had to step up and get some baskets for us."

"She's an amazing player," Stewart said of Madden. "She just takes what you're willing to give her. Usually that's enough to slow a player down, but not her, because she can do it all so well."

The rest helped Madden as when she came out in the third period she helped the Lady Warriors to maintain the lead. Finally, with 2:29 left in the period, Armstrong drew a two-shot foul, hitting both for the first non-Madden points of the game. She helped put the lead back to eight, 34-26, but from that point on, Marshall began inching forward on the scoreboard.

With :25 seconds remaining in the period, the Lady Bobcats began working for a last shot, which they got when Taylor a trey with 0:00 showing, cutting the lead to three, 38-35.

Matching her last shot, Taylor then opened the fourth with another three-pointer to tie the game at 38-all.

"They were hitting three's in the second half," continued Lewallen. "They were getting looks in the second half we weren't giving them in the first half. Plus, it hurt that Becca (Ross) and Laporscha (Williams) were pretty much shut down. They're usually good for six or eight points a game each. We sure could have used those points, too."

At the 7:25 mark, Marshall went ahead for good, 41-38, when Cotton hit Marshall's fifth consecutive three-pointer. The Lady Bobcats then increased the lead to six, 46-40, with 4:05 remaining, whereupon EPC then began to make a recovery.

First Joplin cut the lead to six with her lone bucket, then Kemp grabbed a rebound off of a Taylor blocked a shot and laid it up for her two on the night. Moments later, Madden drew a foul and sank both tries to pull the Lady Warriors back to within two, 46-44, with 2:45 remaining.

Over the next minute, the lead bounced between two and six points as the Lady Warriors tried for a recovery and the Lady Bobcats tried to prevent it. Then with :17 left, EPC got within two once more when Taylor missed the second of two charity shots, Madden rebounded and went the distance for the bucket and a 53-51 score.

With time running out, Joplin fouled Cotton to hopefully put the ball back into EPC hands. Cotton sank both shots and the Lady Warriors, however, for the 55-51 final.

When asked afterward if the three-game losing streak to Marshall played on the Lady Warriors' minds, Lewallen said, "I know before the game the girls were excited and I don't think the losses bothered them. But at the end when they went ahead, that probably played a part. I think we got down on ourselves a little bit."

"Their comeback was worrisome," concluded Stewart of the EPC run near the end when he had some players in foul trouble. "I gambled and left them all in and the gamble paid off. We probably weren't the best team all year long, but we were the best team in March and that's what matters most."

Lewallen said the EPC locker room was, understandably, a sad place to be after the game.

"It was tough way to end the season," he concluded. "We could have used the boards we usually get, but it didn't happen. Hopefully, though, this will help fuel the future. We've only got two seniors on the team and this experience will help them to want to return."

Madden finished the game with not only high points, but with a double-double, grabbing 11 rebounds

For Marshall, Cotton finished with 20 while Taylor had 19.