Glenn Price

DURANT - Three Colbert freshman girls sang the national anthem before the game and harmonized very well (one of them on the basketball team), but that wasn't enough inspiration for the upset minded Colbert Lady Leopards as Caddo won the championship of the Bryan County Tournament sponsored by Landmark Bank and Southeastern Electric Cooperative, 45-28.

Colbert played hard and kept the game close in the first half as they trailed 23-19 at the half, but Caddo's stifling defense and rebounding won the game for the Lady Bruins, now 17-3.

Caddo got off to a fast start as Gunny Hansdottir (named to the All Tournament Team) nailed a 3-pointer 20 seconds into the game. Caddo would go on to post a 16-7 lead at the end of the first quarter and the Caddo faithful probably thought the first quarter was just an example of the rest of the game. Erika Miller (named Tournament MVP) scored six points in the quarter as did Hansdotttir.

But Colbert came back strong thanks to the play of Ashley Reese (named to the All Tournament Team) and Mercedes Jones who scored six points and four points respectively in the second quarter. Colbert outscored Caddo 12-7 in the second quarter to pull to within four points at 23-19.

But Caddo's defense took over in the third quarter as they held Colbert to one bucket while the Lady Bruins hit nine points and then there was an 11 point lead at 32-21.

Chelsea Reece (named to the All Tournament Team) scored seven points in the fourth quarter to lead the Lady Bruins.

Reese scored 12 points to lead the Lady Leopards with both Jones and Jacee Bennett scoring six points. Diane York scored three and Jessica Black finished the scoring with one point.

Miller had a game-high 16 points on and efficient 8 of 15 from the field. Reece scored 13 points, Hunsdottir scored nine points and Jessica Birdsong scored seven points for Caddo. Caddo out rebounded Colbert 23-13.

“We're excited,” said Miller after the game. This took a lot of pressure off of us. The coach said he was real proud of us.”

When asked about her future basketball life, Miller, a junior, said she wanted to play in college.

“I'll go where there is a good scholarship from a good school,” said Miller who said she has gotten lots of letters from schools that have shown interest including Southeastern.

“We held our composure very well,” said Caddo coach Vernon Johnson, no newcomer to Bryan County finals as he has had 10 other teams in the finals over the years. “Jessica (Birdsong) had an excellent second half. “Chelsea (Reece) had a fever before the game, but really showed up and played a great game. Erika just played very good. Gunny played some excellent defense; I always put her on the best player. The team just played real well.”