HARRISON PLUCKED STAR CITY FROM THE TOURNAMENT

MORRILTON — A concept in basketball is that free throws win ball games.
In the second half of the quarterfinal game between Harrison and Star City, that concept played out again.
Star City hit 5-of-13 second half free throws and Harrison hit 14-of-16. Harrison moves onto the semifinals of the Class 4A State Basketball Tournament and Star City goes home. Harrison defeated the Lady Bulldogs, 62-57.
The Lady Bulldogs scored the first four points of the fourth period to move their 40-36 third period lead to 44-36.
Then the Lady Goblins took over. Harrison strung together a 10-0 run in the next 2:21 to take the lead for the first time since the 6:18 mark when the Lady Goblins led 3-2 after an Mariah Hudson trey.
Alex Hill started the Lady Goblin run with a three-point play. She scored the next two Harrison buckets with moves in the lane.
With 4:01 showing on the game clock, Hudson drained a trey from the left wing to give the Lady Goblins a 46-44 lead. That was a lead that Harrison never gave up.
After a Lady Bulldog free throw, Harrison scored the next six points.
Sydney Shrum hit a shot that was followed by two Hill free throws.
With the Lady Goblins leading, 50-45, Harrison secured a Star City miss and then operated a spread offense.
Harrison's next two scores came from wide open layups with no Star City player close to them. Both assists went to Hudson on the plays. Shrum hit the first and then Clare Barger hit the second one.
Star City hit a trey in between the two layups.
The Lady Bulldogs didn't go away. They scored and then set up a full court press that resulted in a steal and a foul on a shot attempt.
After making only one free throw, the Lady Bulldogs still had it as a one-possession contest.
Harrison's next inbounds effort resulted in Hill being fouled and sent to the free throw line.
She hit both with 1:05 left to push Harrison's lead back to five points.
Star City forced a Harrison foul and had the opportunity to make it a one-possession contest again. However, the Lady Bulldogs missed the second free throw and Harrison rebounded the basketball.
As the Lady Goblins were bringing the ball down the court, Star City was able to interfere with the passing lanes and the basketball was batted around and ended up in the hands of Barger. She immediately passed the ball to Salmon, who was standing under the goal.
That basket put Harrison ahead, 58-52.
Star City missed another opportunity and the Lady Bulldogs fouled Shrum on the next two possessions. Shrum hit all four free throw attempts to seal the win.
The Lady Bulldogs moved ahead of Harrison 7-3. Hudson completed an old-fashioned three-point play to pull the Lady Goblins within a point.
Barger was the next Harrison player to score to get the Lady Goblins within that same point.
With a 9-8 lead, Star City then scored an 8-0 run.
The Lady Bulldogs led, 19-12, after the first period with Barger getting the last bucket of the first period after streaking down the floor and catching a Shaylee Ward pass after Ward pulled down a rebound.
Harrison will now be in action on Saturday at 10 a.m. They will face the winner of the Morrilton and Robinson contest.
Hill led Harrison with 26 points. Barger added 12, Shrum 10, Hudson nine, Salmon and Madison Bell two each and Reese Ricketts one.