CENTRAL HEIGHTS — New Summerfield faced a tall (no pun intended) order in its Area Round match-up with Zavalla Friday night.

The Lady Hornets were faced with the task of having to stop the Lady Eagles’ 6-foot-4 post player, Caitlyn Lambert.

Lambert pumped in a game-best 16 points to spark the No.15-ranked Lady Eagles to a 51-25 victory in a Class A-I, Region III contest that was played befeor an estimated crowd of 500 at Central Heights High School.

Zavalla (30-6) led 14-6 after one period of play and that’s when things took a turn for the worst for the Lady Hornets, who end the year with a 19-13 record.

The Lady Hornets couldn’t buy a basket in the second stanza as the Lady Hornets suffered through a 1-15 from the field period.

The Lady Eagles outscored New Summerfield 13-3 in the seecond to take a comfortable 27-9 lead into the dressing room at the break.

The large deficit forced the Lady Hornets to go to the longball as a way of possibley closing ground against a Zavalla team that liked taking advantage of its height to control things on the interior.

Unfortunatley for the Lady Hornets, their long game was not up to par — New Summerfield hit just 1-18 (5.6%) from beyond the arc for the night.

The Lady Hornets never gave up and put together a 6-0 run early in the third stanza to cut the Zavalla lead to 32-17, after Simone Derrett sank apair of free throws with 4:41 to go in the quarter.

Derrett gave it her all on both ends of the court as she led the Lady Hornets in scoring with 14 points while accounting for nine rebounds.

As one of five New Summerfield seniors, it was easy to see why Derrett exited the court in tears, having just played her final game in a Lady Hornet uniform.

Other scorers for the Lady Hornets were, Maritzza Melendez (4), Tanya Saurez (3), Karli McCown (2) and Cristal Zuniga (2).

Sara Dugat poured in 13 points for Zavalla.

Lambert’s 12 rebounds was a game-best.

“We just couldn’t get anything going on offense and had a hard time matching up on defense,” New Summerfield head caoch Josh Faucett said. “I’m proud of the way my team played until the end and for the accomplishments that our seniors made during their careers here.”

Zavalla will move on to play either Neches or Dallardsville Big Sandy early next week.