Lady 'Hawks win the West; Boys take Lions in a thriller

Heath Neal's Lady Blackhawk basketball team whipped the Gravette Lions 64-53 to win the 4A-1 West Championship and advance to both the district semi-finals as well as the first round in the North Region. In the nightcap of the high school double header, Trent Loyd's resilient boys claimed a last-second 47-45 victory.

Pea Ridge Girls 65, Gravette 53

The 23-4 Blackhawks closed out their year undefeated at home, winning the division Friday night by besting the Lady Lions while the Farmington Cardinals were falling to Harrison. Prior to Friday's action, the Lady 'Hawks were tied atop the West Division with the Cardinals holding the tie breaker for the top seed.

The girls jumped out ahead of the visitors early on, outscoring the Lions 12-4 just three minutes into the game. Gabby Adams started the game's scoring with a layup, followed by a Hollyn Davis 3-pointer 90 seconds into the game for a 5-2 lead. Davis the made a layup, followed by a Katelyn Swope trey, with Davis then converting a pair of free throws to push the 'Hawks ahead 12-4.

The Lions' Morrison used a pair of turnovers by the 'Hawks to drop in a pair of layups to cut the lead to 12-8. Maria Socha made a circus shot in the paint to get ahead 14-8, but Gravette's Chilton hit a layup, free throw, then one underneath to shrink the 'Hawks' lead to a single point 14-13. Socha scored off the block to send the 'Hawks into the second period with a 16-13 lead.

The second quarter started poorly for the 'Hawks, as they suffered four turnovers which Gravette took advantage of by scoring 10 unanswered points to race into a 23-16. Bookout scored twice with Chilton connecting three times in the Lion rally.

Davis stopped the run with two-of-two shooting from the line with Blakelee Winn repeating the feat with two of her own. Socha hit another free throw moments later as Pea Ridge melted the Gravette lead to 23-21 with two minutes left in the half. Seconds later, Winn scored on an offensive rebound and hit the accompanying free throw to give the lead back to Pea Ridge at 24-23. It was a lead they would never relinquish.

Socha scored on a rebound shot with Adams matching a free throw by Gravette. Davis then made a charity toss with 3 seconds left in the half to send the 'Hawks into the break with a narrow 28-26 lead.

The 'Hawks came out on fire to start the second half, outscoring the guests 7-0 in the first three minutes. Socha started the scoring with two-for-two shooting from the line, followed by a Swope layup, a Winn layup and free throw and two free shots by Adams. Davis and Swope then traded layups with Gravette as the 'Hawks held a comfortable 41-30 lead with 4 minutes left in the third quarter.

Winn matched a Gravette bucket in the paint with the Lions Tjachman hitting two free throws to get the 'Hawk lead back down to 9 with 3 minutes left. The game briefly came to a half a minute later when Gravette's talkative coach picked up a technical foul after Davis pulled off another steal against the Lion point guard. Davis calmly shot through both shots to boost the lead to 45-34.

Morrison went on a scoring binge for the Lions with three straight scores in the quarter waning moments. Blackhawk Kynley Burton helped keep the 'Hawks ahead with a free throw while Davis came up with a steal/layup and two free tosses to lead Pea Ridge into the final quarter with a 50-41 lead.

The Lions hoped to get back into contention, sending the 'Hawks to the line after fouls. Winn, Dayberry and Davis all connected to frustrate that gambit, and another steal/layup by Davis pushed Pea Ridge ahead 56-43 with just 4 minutes left in the game.

Swope threw in a 3-pointer with Socha dropping in two layups and a free throw to keep the Lions at bay. Gravette could not make any headway with the game ending with the 'Hawks securing a 64-53 victory.

Davis led the scoring with 21, followed by Socha 14, Winn 11, Swope 10, Adams 5, Dayberry 2 and Burton 1.

Senior Davis was honored after the game as her point totals sent her career scoring total past 1,000 points, now having 1,018 scores in her three year role as the Blackhawk playmaker.

Pea Ridge Boys 47, Gravette 45

While the boys led the Lion visitors at each quarter break, they fought a determined opponent with the 'Hawks not securing the victory until a Nick Coble shot at the buzzer settled the issue.

"This wasn't our best game," coach Loyd remarked, "but we played hard and came out on top. Gravette's goal was to stop our leading scorer and they were effective in that, and we will probably see that again in the tournament. The team will have to step up and make their shots."

The Lions demonstrated their game strategy of putting maximum effort into preventing the 'Hawks leading scorer, Nick Coble, from getting many passes or open shots. The strategy was reasonably successful until the game's final minutes when Coble scored the team's last 6 points.

The game started out looking like the 'Hawks might blow out their cross county rivals, roaring out to an 11-0 lead through the first 4 minutes of the opening quarter. Carson Rhine popped in a 3-pointer in the game opening seconds with four of the starters contributing to the opening salvo. Wes Wales scored on a short jump shot, Carson Rhine added his own short jumper with Alex Wilkerson laying one up to go with Will Feemster's two-for-two from the line.

Gravette finally scored with a trey and layup, but the 'Hawks responded with a Noah Peterson trey and Wilkerson free toss as Pea Ridge maintained a lead at 17-5 with a minute left in the quarter. Gravette ripped a 3-pointer in the final seconds sent Pea Ridge into the second quarter with a 17-8 lead.

The 'Hawks grew cold in the second quarter, with only guard Landon Allison able to connect. Allison drove in for a pair of layups and shot in a trey for 7 points. Meanwhile, Gravette scored 12 points to shave the Blackhawk advantage to just 4 at 24-20 going into intermission.

Feemster led off the third quarter with a offensive rebound score with the Lions responding with a goal of their own and a free throw. Rhine countered with an outstanding entry pass to Feemster who scored then hit a free throw as Pea Ridge led 29-23 with 5:44 left in the quarter.

Gravette was not about to go away as a trey and two free throws by the visitors melted the lead to a single point at 29-28. The 'Hawks then got the fans into the game as an alley oop pass led to a score by Wales, followed by a trey by Peterson, with another alley opp from Rhine to Wales increasing the 'Hawk lead to 36-30. Peterson shot through another bucket along with the added free throw boosting the lead to 9 at 39-30. However, just as they did in the second period, Gravette closed in a rush, closing 5 points in the last minute to get the game close again at 39-35.

Gravette scored a free toss to start the quarter with Wales answering with a rebound shot. Nick Coble drove in for a layup to boost the lead but the 'Hawks would not score again for almost 4 minutes as Gravette crept back into the game, trailing by just two at 43-41 with 3 minutes left in the game.

With under 2 minutes left, the Lions finally knotted the score at 43-43 on a rebound shot. Coble scored again to regain the narrow lead, but the Lions came right back to score again with 28 seconds left in the game. With the ball in their possession with under 10 seconds left in the game. a 'Hawk shot misfired but the ball went out of bounds with 3 seconds left. All five players on both sides played at a fever pitch as the 'Hawks tried to inbound a pass before getting a 5-second count. The pass was delivered to Coble who immediately went up to shoot. The ball hit the rim then rattled home as the final buzzer sounded to seal the win.

The 'Hawks won with extremely balanced scoring with no player scoring in double figures. Seven players did score with Peterson and Allison leading the way with 9 each. Wales scored 8, Feemster 7, Coble 6, Rhine 5 and Wilkerson rounded out the scoring with 3.

Sports on 02/13/2019