PRAIRIE GROVE -- Head girls basketball coach Kevin Froud implores the Lady Tigers to keep their heads in the game and execute fundamentals to help an undersized team compete.
Prairie Grove defeated Class 5A Siloam Springs, 50-40, in a nonconference matchup Tuesday, Nov. 20 with Emily Grant scoring 20 points.
"They're athletic and they're bigger than us which everybody is and it gives us a good look of things we need to work on and get better at," Froud said. "That's what you do by playing better teams."
The Lady Panthers led 11-7 after the first quarter with Alexsis Fortner hitting a 3-pointer on a second chance offensive rebound, then Chloe Price stole the ball and made an uncontested layup. Fortner missed a three at the top-of-the-key ran down the lane and put the ball back in for two points. She drilled a 3-pointer when the Lady Tigers suffered a turnover.
Froud didn't like what he saw, expressing concern over "Our rebounding and not taking care of the ball like we should."
"We're not every big so we should be able to handle the ball pretty good," Froud said. "We're just not doing things that we do every day in practice. Their (Siloam Springs') press was drills we do every day in practice and we just weren't going to our spots."
Grant's 3-pointer pulled the Lady Tigers within 15-14 at the 5:23 mark of the second. The lead changed hands three times after that. Grant drove around a defender for a layup and nailed a 15-feet jumper. Larisha Crawford's steal and layup extended Prairie Grove's lead to 20-17 at halftime.
"(Against Greenland the night before) Grant was in foul trouble, didn't get to play a whole lot; and she came out and had a good game tonight," Froud said. "That's part about being a team, everybody steps us and does stuff."
Prairie Grove led 32-30 after three quarters of play then pulled away by outscoring Siloam Springs 18-10 in the fourth.
Defensive rebounding down the stretch enabled the Lady Tigers to protect and extend their lead.
"We've got to do that, we've got to block out," Froud said. "That's what we talked about at halftime. We were up two at half and six of their points had come off second shots, off us not attempting to block them out, us just not blocking them out, and they got the rebound and kicked it out and got a couple threes. You can at least check somebody and block them out. That, to me, is just not being focused in on what you need to be doing."
Emery Brown led Siloam Springs with 12 points. Price had 9 and Fortner 8.
In addition to Grant's 20 points, Jasmine Wynos chipped in 14 for Prairie Grove while Crawford added 9.
Prairie Grove 50, Siloam Springs 40
Siloam Springs^11^6^13^10 -- 40
Prairie Grove^7^13^12^18 -- 50
Prairie Grove (3-0): Emily Grant 6-14 5-7 20, Jasmine Wynos 5-10 4-5 14, Larisha Crawford 4-9 0-0 9, Kaylee Elder 1-1 2-2 4, Lexie Madewell 1-5 0-0 2, Jordan Sugg 0-4 1-6 1. Totals 17-43 12-20 50.
Siloam Springs (1-1): Emery Brown 5 0-0 12, Chloe Price 3 3-8 9, Alexsis Fortner 3 0-0 8, Jael Harried 3 0-0 6, Jadyn Still 1 0-0 3. Totals 16 3-8 40.
3-point goals -- Siloam Springs 5 (Fortner 2, Brown 2, Still), Prairie Grove 4-13 (Grant 3-6, Crawford 1-3, Sugg 0-2, Madewell 0-2).
Rebounds -- Prairie Grove 21 (Wynos 8). Assists -- Prairie Grove 9 (Crawford 2, Madewell 2, Wynos 2). Steals -- Prairie Grove 8 (Wynos 2, Sugg 2). Blocks -- Prairie Grove 1 (Grant). Turnovers -- Prairie Grove 9.
Sports on 11/28/2018