Leake looked like they would run away early as they raced out to a 10-3 lead following a Char’Lesa Tadlock 3-pointer from the corner at the 4:36 mark of the opening quarter of play but Kirk fired off seven straight points, including an Allye Lundy 3-pointer, to tie the game at 10-10 with 3:21 left in the quarter. After Leake’s Char’Lesa Tadlock canned her second 3-pointer to put the Rebelettes up 13-10 Kirk answered with two free throws from Carmen Woods on consecutive possessions to give the Raiderettes a 14-13 advantage. Beth Mann went glass with 28 seconds left to put Kirk on top 18-15 but a Jessi Powers 3-pointer from the top of the key as time expired ended the quarter at 18-18.
(Above) Emily Kea (#15) of Leake gets a shot off over Beth Mann (#21) of Kirk
Emily Key’s jumper from the elbow two minutes into the second quarter capped off a 7-0 run that pushed Leake to a 25-18 lead but Kirk managed to stay close as Beth Wells and Carmen Woods combined for five quick points to pull the Raiderettes to within two points at 25-23 with 5:01 left in the half. Leake finished the quarter with a 10-2 run on two 3-pointers from Jessi Powers and another one from Char’Lesa Tadlock as Leake took a 35-25 lead into the locker-room.
Emily Kea’s offensive rebound and put back gave Leake their biggest lead at 41-29 with 4:28 remaining in the third quarter. Another Tadlock 3-pointer extended the lead to 48-35 with just over one minute left but Kirk wouldn’t go away as the Raiderettes got baskets from Beth Mann and Katie Lee Jones to wrap up the third quarter down 48-39. 
Leake quickly added to the lead as senior guard Jessi Powers nailed two 3-pointers from the wing on consecutive possessions to bump the lead up to 54-39 less than one minute into the quarter. Beth Mann’s basket off the glass got Kirk to within eight points at 62-54 with 39 seconds remaining in the game but the Raiderettes could get no closer.
Leake improves to 34-2 with the 63-54 win while Kirk suffers only their fourth loss of the season and slips to 31-4. Kirk will play Prairie View this afternoon in the third place game. 
(Above) Courtney Parella of Kirk
Char’Lesa Tadlock led Leake with a game high 19 points (five 3-pointers), Jessi Power added 16 (five 3-pointers), Emily Kea 14, Jenny Wilbanks 10 (two 2-pointers), Anna Nowell 3 and Hannah Peoples 1.
Beth Mann led Kirk with 17 points, Carmen Woods added 15, Courtney Parella 8, Holly Wells 6, Kelsey Marter 3 and Katie Lee Jones 2.
Post game comments:
Leake head coach Doyle Wolverton
“Seems like us and Brookhaven meet every other year in this thing. They’re probably the dominant AA team in the south and we’ve been pretty much the dominant team in AA north for a few years now so I guess it’s just meant to be that we’re going to meet in the finals. Barry (Gray) does a really good job with that Brookhaven group and you know year in and year out it’s kind of been between us and them. It’s just going to be another battle for it.”
How would you describe your teams' defensive effort today?
“We started out tonight trying to put some pressure on the ball and ended up getting into foul trouble. At the half we were up by 10 points or so and I made that famous statement that if we just swapped baskets from here on out we would just turn on the defense and that’s all we did in the second half. We also had four players with four fouls but they stayed on the floor.”
What kind of game do you expect against Brookhaven?
“He will come get me full court. He will bring either a full court man or a full court diamond press. He will try and put pressure on me before I get the ball down the court. If I’m able to neutralize that I’m in good shape, if not, he’ll get me.”
LA...18...17...13...15...63
KA...18....7....14...15...54
