The Sonoraville girls came up just a little bit short in the Comcast Holiday Tournament hosted by LaFayette. The Lady Phoenix entered the championship game on Wednesday against Gordon Lee and played hard but came away with a 45-40 loss.

The Lady Phoenix jumped out to a small one point lead after the first quarter and pushed their lead to two points, 23-21 by halftime.

Sonoraville held their lead after three but Gordon Lee hit several three pointers and pulled away with a 13-6 final quarter finish.

“It was a real physical game,” said SHS Head Coach Stephanie Caudell. “Gordon Lee pressed the whole game, back court and front court, and we did our best job of handling it all year.”

Though they finished second, Caudell saw a lot of good things come out of the tournament.

“Anytime you get a chance for some tourney play, to play back-to-back-to-back, it is good,” she said. “It prepares for region tourney.”

“It was exciting and the kids were excited about going into a championship game,” Caudell added. “We came up a little short but it was a good learning experience.”

Noelle Defoor led the Lady Phoenix with 25 points and also managed six rebounds. She was 8-for-11 from the floor.

Hannah Smith followed Defoor with seven points and she also grabbed seven rebounds and had three steals. Jennilee Gentry added seven rebounds as well and Berkley Potts grabbed six.

Guards Defoor and Brittany Redd were named to the All-Tournament Team.

The Lady Phoenix crushed Ridgeland 57-15 in the first round of the tourney on Monday. Sonoraville beat LaFayette 49-44 on Tuesday in the semifinals.

Sam Taylor scored 12 points for Gordon Lee and Holli Brooks added nine.