’Hawks finish season sweep of Shiloh Saints

— Pea Ridge was in playoff form Monday night, at least for enough of its game against Shiloh Christian.

The Blackhawks ended the regular season with a victory, surviving a late rally by the Saints to hang on for a 69-60 victory. With the win, Pea Ridge (19-8, 9-5 4A-1 Conference) concluded a season sweep of Shiloh Christian (13-12, 9-5). The Blackhawks finished third in the conference and knocked the Saints down to fourth.

Both teams were off Tuesday, and are to play Wednesday in the 4A-1 District Tournament, in Pea Ridge.

“The most important thing was for us to just play well,” Pea Ridge coach Charley Clark said. “A win tonight didn’t do much for us, other than changing who we play (Wednesday).

I thought we made pretty good decisions tonight, for the most part. The kids played intelligent offense.”

Pea Ridge needed a few minutes to get its transition offense going, but once it did it spent much of the first three quarters comfortably in the lead.

The Blackhawks trailed by 5 points early, before going ahead 12-11 on a 3-pointer by Jacob Hall. That basket was part of a 23-8 run that gave Pea Ridge a 37-22 halftime lead.

Hall finished with 22 points, while Cameron Thompson led the Blackhawks with 23 points.

Kasey Cooper added 16.

“To beat Pea Ridge, you have to be very good,” Shiloh coach Brent Hester said. “We missed a bunch of assignments on defense and missed some chip-ins, and that killed us.”

The Blackhawks led by as many as 20 points early in the third quarter before the Saints rallied.

Shiloh got within 11 midway through the third and opened the fourth quarter on a 9-1 run, cutting the deficit to 6 points with more than five minutes remaining. Then Hall hit a 3-pointer, Thompson drained a pair of free throws, and the Blackhawks pushed the lead back to 15.

“We don’t play a real complicated game, so there’s not a lot to talk (during timeouts),” Clark said. “Once we got our spacing where we wanted itto be, we were all right.”

Lady Blackhawks

Shiloh Christian 55/Pea Ridge 20

The Lady Saints (21-3, 13-1) were in control the entire way, getting 18 points from Lindsey Roe. Meagan Henley added 10 points for Shiloh, and Hannah Persing scored nine.

Jordan Winn and Audrey Gibson scored 7 points apiece to lead Pea Ridge (6-18, 2-12).

Sports, Pages 7 on 02/16/2011