LINCOLN -- After a one year lay-off from being the big dog in the 4A-1 conference, Prairie Grove Lady Tigers were eager to regain their place at the top of the standings.
However, to claim an equal place with the Huntsville Eagles atop that pinnacle, the Tigers would need the Eagles to lose to the Berryville Bobcats and they would need to dispatch the Lincoln Wolves in their regular season finale held Friday in Lincoln. The Bobcats did their part by beating the Eagles and the Tigers then earned the title of conference co-champions when they defeated the Wolves 39-24. Had the Tigers (16-10, 12-2) lost to the Wolves (15-11, 6-9), they would have been knocked down to third place in the conference standings.
"We had a great first quarter, but in the second half we couldn't make any shots," said Tiger coach Kevin Froud. "We did some dumb things with the ball, fortunately we did just enough things in the second half to win."
The Wolves ramped up their defense intensity in the second period holding the Tigers without any points until the 2:34 mark of the stanza and by causing 7 Prairie Grove turnovers, but Lincoln only turned those 7 extra possessions into 3 points. The contest got a little testy with less than a minute to play in the period when a Lincoln player was assessed a technical foul, which then prompted Lincoln coach Brian Davenport to implore the officials, "give me one, too." The zebras obliged and assessed him a technical as well. Mattie Hartin converted all four technical free-throws which put the Tigers ahead 28-9 at the break and finished as the game's leading scorer with 19 points.
Baskets from Madison Rich, Jaycie Neeley and Ashtyn Rothrock helped shrink the lead to 15 points, however a triple by Prairie Grove's Camree Bartholomew made the score 33-15. A basket from Kendra Cummings and a pair of freebies from the charity stripe by Rich sandwiched around two Mattie Hartin free-throws made the score 35-19 going into the last period.
Despite the loss, Davenport lauded the effort put forth by his charges saying, "I am extremely proud of our girls' effort. We did give up too many in the first half, but I went into halftime and told them that I want maximum effort on defense and I think they gave it to me."
Bartholomew and Taylor Hartin followed Mattie Hartin in the scoring ledger with 6 points apiece, Lopez, 4; Taylor Doss, 2; and Ashley Cox, 2. Lincoln was paced by Rich with 10 points, followed by Neeley, 7; Rothrock, 4; Cummings, 2; and Courtney Lloyd, 1.
Sports on 02/18/2015