Woodlawn-Baton Rouge (Louisiana) stuns No. 1 Huntington in 'Marsh Madness' Division I select semifinals
HAMMOND, LOUISIANA - For the first three days of the LHSAA "Marsh Madness" girls basketball tournament, upsets were hardly transpiring.
However, on the opening game of Day 4 at the University Center, the biggest upset of the week thus far took place.
Behind a 33-point effort from junior Amijah Price, Woodlawn-Baton Rouge - making its first-ever semifinal appearance - shocked top-seeded Huntington, 71-58, in the Division I select semifinals Thursday afternoon.
The Lady Panthers (23-9), who were the No. 5 seed entering the tournament, now go for their first state championship on Saturday at noon. They will play the winner of the other Division I select semifinal, John Curtis Christian against Liberty Magnet, which will tip off later on Thursday.
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Woodlawn overcame a nine-point halftime deficit and was held scoreless for the final five minutes of the first half. But the Lady Panthers eventually regained the lead in the third quarter before Huntington (24-3) went back in front to start the fourth.
However, Woodlawn opened the final quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 52-48 advantage. The Lady Panthers stretched it to seven, 59-52, when Mariah Scott hit a 3-pointer with less than three minutes left.
Then Woodlawn put the game away at the free-throw line, with Price making two shots for a 63-54 lead with 1:46 left. She ended up attempting 20 foul shots, and made all 20.
That was part of her 33-point night, but Price made it a double-double by grabbing 10 rebounds.
Scott finished with 13 points and made two 3's while going 5-for-6 from the foul line. For the game, Woodlawn made 30-of-35 free-throw attempts.
Also for Woodlawn, Mya Montgomery had 12 points and eight rebounds while Ra'Nya Smith narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with nine points and 10 boards. The Lady Panthers outrebounded Huntington, 48-21.
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The Lady Raiders got 19 points from Carley Hamilton, who also made three treys. Kyndal Graham and Jalia Marshall added 18 and 12 points, respectively.
Photo of Woodlawn-Baton Rouge player Amijah Price (with ball) by Morgan Werther, The Advocate
-- Buck Ringgold | buck@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveLA
