PRAIRIE GROVE -- A 7-0 Gravette spurt over the last 4:50 of the first quarter enabled the Lady Lions to grab a lead they never relinquished in winning at Prairie Grove, 44-37, Dec. 13.
Gravette capitalized upon Prairie Grove's lack of size, out-rebounding the Lady Tigers, 27-19, and using their height advantage to get off shots in the interior. The Lady Lions made 17 of 22 free throws compared to a 6 of 10 showing for Prairie Grove. Gravette's senior center, 6-feet Stephanie Pinter, gave Prairie Grove trouble on the interior all night. She had 9 rebounds and was able to wrest the ball away disrupting shots in the paint, leading Gravette in blocks and steals with 2 in each category.
Gravette 44, Prairie Grove 37
Gravette^8^9^18^9—^44
Prairie Grove^5^11^10^11^—^37
Gravette (3-4, 2-1): Cally Kildow 6-11 2-2 20, Tori Foster 2-6 7-9 11, Kyrstin Branscum 1-7 5-6 7, Bernice Garcia 1-3 0-0 3, Jessica Bookout 0-3 2-4 2, Stephanie Pinter 0-4 1-1 1. Totals 10-34, 17-22 44.
Prairie Grove (3-3, 2-2): Camree Bartholomew 6-13 1-2 16, Emily Grant 3-10 1-2 9, Audrey Doering 2-8 2-2 6, Larisha Crawford 2-4 0-0 4, Lexie Madewell 0-1 1-2 1, Parker Lopez 0-4 1-2 1. Totals 13-35, 6-10 37.
3-Point Goals Goals — Gravette 7-15 (Cally Kildow 6-8, Bernice Garcia 1-2, Jessica Bookout 0-1, Tori Foster 0-2, Krystin Branscum 0-2), Prairie Grove 5-18 (Bartholomew 3-8, Grant 2-5, Crawford 0-1, Lopez 0-1, Doering 0-1, Sapp 0-2). Fouled Out — None. Rebounds— Gravette 27 (Pinter 9), Prairie Grove 19 (Doering 6). Assists — Gravette 6 (Foster 2), Prairie Grove 8 (Lopez 4). Steals — Gravette 4 (Pinter 2), Prairie Grove 11 (Sapp 4). Blocks — Gravette 5 (Pinter 2), Prairie Grove 4 (Sapp 4). Turnovers — Gravette 16, Prairie Grove 9. Total Fouls — Gravette 13, Prairie Grove 17.
Gravette coach Will Pittman singled out several players, each of whom contributed, from freshman Cally Kildow's 20 points on 6 of 8 shooting from 3-point land to Tori Foster's ball distribution and Pinter on defense.
"She (Kildow) shot the ball really well tonight," Pittman said. "She's got a smooth shot, and she was huge for us tonight. Our point-guard, Tori Foster, she played tough for us and Stephanie Pinter did all the dirty work for us, rebounding and playing good defense. The big reason we got the game was our defense. We lost Bartholomew a few times, but overall I was pleased with our defense."
Prairie Grove senior Camree Bartholomew had a solid outing, shooting 6 of 13 from the field and scoring 16 points to lead the Lady Tigers. Asked what could be done to offset the size advantage, Prairie Grove coach Kevin Froud said the Lady Tigers would have to try to up the tempo.
"We'd have to press more and make the game a lot faster," Froud said. "But I don't know if we can do that right now, stamina-wise, for the whole game. You have to pick your spots to do that sort of stuff."
Prairie Grove was able to effectively pressure the ball at times. Gravette had 16 turnovers to 9 for the Lady Tigers. Senior Cassidi Sapp had 4 steals and 4 blocked-shots for Prairie Grove, which also got three steals apiece from Parker Lopez and Emily Grant. Froud pointed out Gravette also hurt the Lady Tigers on the perimeter with Gravette freshman Cally Kildow's 3-point shooting.
"The freshman went off on us, she made six threes," Froud said.
Audrey Doering's steal and layup coupled with Camree Bartholomew's trifecta from the left wing gave Prairie Grove an early 5-1 lead, but Gravette started their run 14 seconds later on Foster's free throws. Two more foul shots by Kildow tied the game and the Lady Lions moved ahead, 8-5, on a Kildow 3-pointer after a Lady Tiger turnover.
The Lady Tigers would close the gap to a single point twice in the second quarter, closing to 13-12 on Bartholomew's deep 3-pointer on an assist by Lopez at the 3:48 mark and 16-17 with 24 seconds to go in the half on Doering's 2-point field goal set up by Bartholomew's dish. Prairie Grove earned a tie at 19-all on Grant's 3-pointer 1:12 into the third quarter. The Lady Tigers had a chance to take the lead, but after in-bounding underneath their own basket lost the handle on a drive to the goal and the ball squirted out-of-bounds.
An 11-2 run by Gravette put the Lady Lions in control. Kildow and Bernice Garcia made threes with Kildow's second trey of the run pushing the visitors to a 30-21 advantage when she was left unguarded in the left corner with 2:48 left in the third quarter. Kildow had one more 3-pointer in the period which gave Gravette their largest lead, at 35-23. Bartholomew answered with a 3-pointer trimming the margin to 35-26 at the end of the third quarter.
As the final period began, Pinter blocked a shot and ripped away the rebound to start a fast-break. Garcia pushed the ball up the floor and found Kildow, who spotted up for yet another 3-pointer from the right corner as the Lady Lions matched their largest lead of 12 points, at 38-26, less than half a minute into the fourth.
Prairie Grove's defense had been caught out of position in transition and Froud took time-out. The Lady Tigers responded with a 6-0 run. Lopez passed to Grant for a bucket. A minute later, Sapp stole the dribble and found Bartholomew, who dribbled in for a layup with Pinter breathing down her neck. Bartholomew added a steal and layup, cutting Gravette's lead to 38-32 with 5:33 left.
A key 5-point swing occurred after that. Prairie Grove missed a layup and Kildow connected on her sixth 3-pointer of the game in eight attempts. The trey widened Gravette's lead back to 9 and the Lady Lions pulled away for the 44-37 win.
Sports on 12/21/2016