By Ben Madrid
Special to the Enterprise-Leader
PRAIRIE GROVE -- Prairie Grove's boys and girls basketball teams both notched important 4A-1 conference victories against the Gentry Pioneers Jan. 13 in contests played at Prairie Grove. The Lady Tigers got the ball rolling with a 57-46 win in the opening varsity skirmish, and the Tiger boys concluded the evening with a 66-55 victory over their Pioneer counterparts.
Girls -- Prairie Grove 57, Gentry 46
The Lady Tigers' conference record remained unblemished at 5-0 with their win over the Pioneers. Sophomore Parker Lopez led the Tigers in the scoring column and put on an impressive offensive show in doing so. Lopez, who finished with 21 points, quite often pirouetted around Pioneer defenders in the paint before finally finishing strong at the basket.
"She reminds me a lot of Kendra Coyle, the way she plays and gets to the basket," said Tiger coach Kevin Froud. "She is a great asset and she just keeps getting better and better every game."
Lopez and teammate Taylor Hartin both tallied 7 points in the opening period which helped the Tigers build a 20-14 lead going into the second frame. The Pioneers whittled the lead to 3 points, 30-27 by the halftime break.
After burning up the nets in the first half, both teams cooled off in the third period. The Tigers' defense didn't produce a bushel full of turnovers, but did fiercely contend every shot by the Pioneers, who only converted one 3-point field goal in the stanza. Gentry got as close as five points in the final frame, however Prairie Grove was a nearly perfect 13 of 14 from the charity stripe, in the final 1:17 of the contest. Mattie Hartin converted 6 attempts at the foul line and had 9 points in the period, which allowed the Tigers to earn the 57-46 victory.
Mattie Hartin finished the contest with 13 points; Taylor Hartin scored, 12; Camree Bartholomew, 5; Ashley Cox, 3; Sara James, 2; and Taylor Doss, 1.
Boys -- Prairie Grove 66, Gentry 55
The Tiger boys went over .500 in the 4A-1 conference when they improved their record to 3-2 with their win over the Pioneers. Gavin Heltemes provided a major spark for the Tigers when he came off the bench and scored 11 points in the second period. Heltemes finished the contest with 16 points and shared Prairie Grove's top scoring honors with Dylan Soehner.
"Coming off the bench is kind of a new role for Gavin," said Tiger coach Steve Edmiston. "In that role I think he has played better and is more at ease. It also gives us a really good guard rotation, and it's kind of a luxury for us because a couple of those guys can play multiple positions."
Despite Heltemes' 11-point effort in the second quarter, the Tigers only held a precariously small 27-25 lead at intermission. In the third period Prairie Grove punished the Pioneers' press defense, while executing their post-game offense to perfection. Soehner picked up where Heltemes left off by bullying his way in the paint and scoring 7 points in the period, which allowed the Tigers to increase their margin to 12 points, 46-34.
Gentry battled back to within 3 points with less then two minutes to play, however an "old-fashioned" three point play by Parker Galligan immediately followed by a steal and layup by Tanner Pursell helped shut the door on the Pioneers' comeback efforts and fueled the Tigers toward their 66-55 win.
Galligan and Pursell joined Soehner and Heltemes in double-figures with 15 points and 11 points, respectively. Nick Ellis contributed 4 points to the effort, while D.J. Strong and Leighton Smith each finished with 2 points apiece.
The win helped Prairie Grove bounce back from a disappointing 38-36 loss at Pea Ridge on Jan. 9 after squandering an opportunity to score last by turning the ball over in the final minute and then giving up a field goal to the Blackhawks (10-7, 3-1).
Sports on 01/21/2015