Manual’s Lady Crimsons defeated the Mercy Jaguars 55-52 this past saturday to capture the Region 7 tournament title and will advance to the Sweet 16 which will be hosted by Western Kentucky University. Manual closed the game with a 7-1 run led by Mechael Guess(12) who scored 4 points in the final 32 seconds. Guess, the Region 7 player of the year, scored a game high 25 points and also added 7 rebounds and 3 steals. The No. 1 ranked Crimsons (30-4) defeated the No. 2 Jaguars (24-8) for the fourth straight time this season in five meetings. “It’s very exciting,” Kara Wright (11) said. “I’ve been dreaming about this since our freshman year. It feels great.”
Juliann Miller scored 15 points for the defending state championship, and Emily Goetz added 13, but Mercy could not manage their 51-48 lead with 3:35 left. They would go on to commit 3 turnovers and miss their final 2 shots.
The Crimsons played without starting point guard April Wilson who suffered a broken hand in practice tuesday. She will not be playing in the remainder of the State Tournament.
Photos by Tim Haag