By Ben Madrid
Special to the Enterprise-Leader
PRAIRIE GROVE -- A crime spree spread like wildfire through Tigers' Den gymnasium in Prairie Grove Jan. 6 when the Prairie Grove Lady Tigers committed grand larceny against the visiting Shiloh Saints.
The Lady Tigers pilfered 21 steals in their, 56-14, pummeling of their 4A-1 conference rival and the victory helps improve the Lady Tigers' record to 3-0 in conference play. The Tigers' pressure defense forced the Saints to turn the ball over a total of 37 times and also limited Shiloh to a meager 4 points scored after the first period.
"Because we are so undersized, we will have to rely on our press to off-set that disadvantage," said Tiger Coach Kevin Froud. "Tonight we played hard and that pressure paid off."
The pick-pocket trio of Taylor Hartin, Mattie Hartin and Parker Lopez each finished the contest with 4 steals apiece and coincidentally that same trio of basketball thieves all finished with double-digits in the scoring department with Taylor Hartin leading the way with 13 points.
"We are just coached really well," said Taylor. "We work our hardest everyday during practice trying to be ready to make steals during the game."
Taylor Hartin set the scoring tone early by popping a pair of 3-bangers to stake the Tigers to an early 6-0 lead. Shiloh scored six consecutive points to tie the contest at 6-6, but a steal and layup by Mattie Hartin followed by a drive to the basket by Lopez and an offensive put-back by Taylor Hartin helped Prairie Grove re-take the lead 12-6. Shiloh finished off the frame by scoring the final 4 points to close the gap to 12-10.
The Tigers started turning the screws on the Saints in the second period, forcing 12 turnovers and limiting the Saints to just one basket which came as the buzzer was sounding for the end of the frame. Late in the stanza, Lopez showcased a pair of nifty spin moves in the lane which resulted in baskets that swelled Prairie Grove's advantage to 25-10. Shiloh's lone buzzer-beating bucket made the score 25-12 heading into intermission.
Prairie Grove continued to score at will in the third frame, with Mattie Hartin, who scored 7 points in the period, kicking off the stanza with a drive to the basket "old-fashioned" three point play. By the 3:30 mark of the third period the Tigers were leading 40-14 and coach Froud emptied his bench to allow valuable playing time for his reserves. Hannah Keelin and Megan Reynolds pitched in baskets in the frame which increased the Tiger lead to 44-14 going into the final stanza.
In the final go-round Shiloh was kept out of the scoring column while Keelin paced the Tigers with 6 points in the period, helping Prairie Grove claim the 56-14 victory.
In the scorer's ledger Mattie Hartin followed sister Taylor with 12 points, Lopez finished with 10 points, Keelin tallied 8 points, Reynolds added 6 points, Ashley Cox finished with 3 points, while Taylor Doss and Camree Bartholomew each scored 2 points.
Sports on 01/21/2015