MADISON - The Pillow Academy Lady Mustangs have nothing left to prove in the North AAA conference.
After going 13-0 against league teams in the regular season, the Lady Mustangs ran roughshod through the North AAA Tournament and now turn their focus to the State AAA Tournament.
Pillow, ranked No. 5 in the statewide academy poll, pounded Madison-Ridgeland Academy 59-29 Saturday on its home court in North AAA championship game. They Lady Mustangs won their three tournament games by an average of 41.6 points.
"We started the season slow, losing five games early, but the girls have really come together like sisters. They've worked hard to get to where they're at now," said Pillow coach Durwin Carpenter. "We expect things to get much tougher next week in the state tournament."
The Lady Mustangs went up 2-0 in the first five seconds against MRA on a layup by Clansey Flautt and led the entire game. MRA, however, stayed close in the first eight minutes.
Pillow led 9-6 at the end of the first period but began to pull away in the second. The team did so with one of its best players, Stribling Whites, on the bench with three fouls.
Junior Meagan Webb came off the bench to score eight points in the second period, helping Pillow outscore MRA 21-8. Webb finished with 13 points, tying her with senior Meg Flanagan for high-scoring honors.
Flanagan hit a 3-pointer to put Pillow up 19-9 early in the second. Then with two minutes left before the half, junior Katie Buford drained a 3-pointer to push the lead to 15, 28-13.
The Lady Mustangs (30-5) led 30-14 at the intermission.
Flanagan hit another trey late in the third to put her team ahead 41-24 heading into the final period. The 17-point lead was Pillow's largest to that point in the game.
Whites helped the Lady Mustangs outscore the Lady Patriots 18-5 in the final period.
"Our depth was a factor down the stretch. We played 10 folks in the first half, so we were able to keep up our defensive intensity," Carpenter said of his team's second-half dominance.
The Lady Mustangs blew the home team out despite hitting just 19 of 39 (48.7 percent) from the foul line.
Whites finished with 12 points and six rebounds for Pillow. Buford pulled down a team-high seven boards, and Flautt chipped in with nine points.
Pillow had four players named to the All-North AAA team: Whites, Flautt, Flanagan and Amy Beckwith.
The Lady Mustangs will put their 22-game winning streak on the line against Copiah in the first round of the state tourney on either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Copiah is the fourth seed from the South.
MRA (22-13) advances to state as the No. 2 seed from the North.
On Friday, the Lady Mustangs whipped Starkville 80-38 to reach the championship game.
Buford led the way with 16 points.
Flautt and Flanagan had 12 points each, while Webb chipped in 10.
