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Seizing second: Mesquite girls use big third quarter to down Yellow Jackets
By DEVIN HASSON, dhasson@starlocalnews.com
The Class 5A girls playoffs do not officially start for more than a week, but Mesquite and Rockwall treated Friday night as the beginning of the postseason.
The Skeeters and Yellow Jackets entered the game tied for second place in 12-5A, with the winner all but assuring themselves a better seed in the playoffs.
With that prize hanging in the balance, it was Mesquite that grabbed it, using a 15-2 run in the early stages of the second half to go on to a 57-52 victory at Mesquite High School.
Rockwall (22-9) slips to 8-3 in district play and will be the third seed regardless of what happens in its season finale against Longview.
As was the case in the first meeting, when the Skeeters kicked it into a higher gear, the Yellow Jackets were unable to keep pace.
After a back-and-forth first half that featured four ties and 10 lead changes, Mesquite outworked Rockwall to start the third quarter.
Leading 30-28, Jamila Parker knocked down a jumper, Brianna Williams drained a 3-pointer and Brittany Pearson scored a second-chance bucket to quickly stretch the advantage to nine.
Briana Caro, who had four 3-pointers in her team-leading 19-point performance, stepped inside the arc for a jumper for the first double-digit lead, and Wilson and Williams then scored inside to make it 45-30 with a minute left in the third quarter.
Mesquite shot just 40.7 percent for the game, but hit more than half its shots in the decisive third quarter while holding Rockwall to just 3-of-14 shooting from the floor.
The Yellow Jackets tried to hang around, as Morghen Day got inside for a bucket to start the fourth quarter and Hannah Hughes scored five quick points, including trey that made it 48-39.
Mesquite got a little sloppy at that point with three turnovers, but Rockwall, which shot 35.2 percent for the game, could not capitalize as it stayed cold from the field and the Skeeters did a good job preventing second chances. The Skeeters had a 18-11 edge on the boards in the second half, led by Viershanie Latham, who finished the game with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The Yellow Jackets pulled to within 50-43 on a layup by Hughes, but Caro broke a five-minute dry spell from the floor with a 3-pointer to restore the 10-point lead with 2:25 left.
Rockwall again got close when Ellen Baker knocked down one of her three treys to make it 56-50, but the Skeeters, who were only 8-of-17 from the line, were able to do just enough from the charity stripe to keep the Yellow Jackets at arm's length.
Joining Caro and Latham in double figures for Mesquite were Williams and Pearson, who scored 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Sara Williamson led Rockwall with 19 points.
The Skeeters led early, 5-2, when the Yellow Jackets countered with a 10-3 run, with Baker knocking down a pair of 3-pointers to give them a 12-8 lead.
Caro answered with one from long range and Wilson scored a second-chance basket to tie the game at 13-13 after one quarter.
The teams stayed within two points of each other for the entire second quarter, with Latham's putback in the final minute giving the Skeeters a 28-26 lead going into halftime.
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