Stephanie Sturgis - Weakley County Press Sports Editor
Posted: Tuesday, March 2, 2010 5:26 pm

Board battle — Dresden’s Jesica Parsley (left) fights for a rebound with Lady Viking Santia Pettigrew during the Region 7-A quarterfinals. The Lady Lions went cold in the third, and Humboldt left Dresden with a 55-46 win. Photo by Stephanie Sturgis

Making their first regional appearance since the 2005 season, the Dresden Lady Lions roared out of the gates, but a cold spell in the third quarter ensured their Region 7-A tourney run was a short one.
After building a big lead, the young Lady Lions, the No. 2 seed from District 13-A, stopped attacking on offense late in the second quarter, and the visiting Humboldt Lady Vikings, the No. 3 seed from District 14-A, took over the momentum on the way to a 55-46 victory.
“They’re big and we got worn down and got tentative. We quit attacking and that allowed Humboldt to extend out on defense. Our lead went from 20-9 to 25-23 at halftime,” Lady Lion head coach Jonathan West noted. “That set the tone for the third quarter. We began to doubt ourselves.”
A Jesica Parsley 3-pointer got things started for DHS, before Alex Glisson pitched in consecutive jumpers. The Lady Lions used fastbreak baskets and two Allie Phillips layups after breaking the Humboldt press for a 15-7 lead after a quarter.
A Parsley stickback and her baseline trey countered a Keisha King jumper to expand the DHS lead to 20-9 with 5:23 left in the half. Humboldt got consecutive layups by Patra Hubbard, but Parsley tallied another putback for a 22-13 lead.
“(Parsley) has gone to battle for us all year,” the Dresden coach said.
Humboldt reeled off a 10-3 run by trapping and pressuring the Lady Lions into turnovers. Glisson’s trey was the lone DHS basket over the last 3:38 of the half as HHS trimmed its deficit to two, 25-23, at halftime.
A King putback knotted the score at 25-all, but Glisson added a jumper to put Dresden temporarily back on top. The lead was short-lived as Humboldt rattled off 13 straight points and kept Dresden scoreless for a six-minute span to grab a 38-27 lead. Glisson ended the drought, but Humboldt led 40-31 after three.
The Lady Lions’ season didn’t end without a fight. Dresden sliced its deficit to three, 44-41 with baskets from Jessica Jones (a trey), Glisson and Amy Reddick with five minutes to play.
Humboldt stretched the lead back to eight before a Reddick 3-pointer again cut the gap to three, 49-46, with 1:23 remaining.
The Lady Vikes hit 6-of-8 free throws from that point to secure the 55-46 win.
Dresden had just one senior — Courtney McMillin — on its roster. “She’s the one who made us go all year. I have nothing but praise for her on and off the court,” West said.

Region 7-A Tournament
Quarterfinal
Feb. 25 at Dresden
GIRLS
Humboldt (55) — Keisha King 17, Patra Hubbard 14, Marquesha Emerson 9, Jerrica Morgan 6, Dominique Shivers 5, Santia Pettigrew 4.
Dresden (46) — Alex Glisson 16, Jesica Parsley 12, Amy Reddick 7, Jessica Jones 5, Allie Phillips 4, Kristen Childress 2.
3-pointers: Humboldt — Emerson (2); Dresden — Parsley (2), Reddick, Jones, Glisson.
Records: Humboldt 15-13, Dresden 18-11.