GRAVETTE -- While snow continued to fall outside Lion Arena on Friday Jan. 15, inside things began to heat up as the Gravette Lady Lions played host to the Prairie Grove Lady Tigers in a 4A-1 conference contest. By the end of the 32-minute contest, the Lady Lions had run away with the game, taking the win by 31 points.
The opening tip went to Gravette's Reese Hamilton, who passed off to Shylee Morrison, who dribbled the ball just inside the left 3-point line. Morrison passed the ball off to Lizzy Ellis, who was standing on the right-wing behind the 3-point line. Ellis put up the shot which landed in the net for the first three points of the contest.
On the Lady Tigers' first possession of the contest, Trinity Dobbs rebounded a teammate's missed shot near the left lane and put the ball up and in for Prairie Grove's first two points.
At the six-minute mark in the first quarter, Gravette was leading 6-2 when both team's shooting games went flat. For the next five minutes, the Lady Lions only managed to land one field goal. This allowed the Lady Tigers a chance to go on a brief run and, with four seconds left, they trailed the Lady Lions by one. Two seconds later, Hamilton was fouled, sending her to the line for two shots. Hamilton missed the first but made the second, giving Gravette a two-point edge, 9-7, over Prairie Grove.
The Lady Tigers' cold streak continued through much of the second quarter. The Lady Lions took full advantage of the situation by extending their lead to 15. But then it was the Lady Lions' shooting game that went flat, giving the Lady Tigers a chance to make up some lost ground. By the end of the second quarter, Prairie Grove trailed by only eight.
The Lady Lions began moving away from the Lady Tigers in the second half, hitting a total of 16 points in the third quarter and 22 in the fourth, while holding Prairie Grove to six in the third and nine in the fourth. The Gravette Lady Lions easily defeated the Prairie Grove Lady Tigers, 60-29, to take the conference win.
In double figures for the Lady Lions was Morrison with 24 points. Ellis and Taylor Neustel each had nine, followed by Kaylan Chilton with eight, Dalacie Wishon and Hamilton each with four, and Kyra Hook with two.
Trinity Dobbs was the only Lady Tiger in double figures, with 17 points. Ella Faulk and Zoey Hubbs contributed five points each to Prairie Grove's scoring effort, followed by Arianna Harrel and Olivia Kestner each with one.
Gravette 60, Prairie Grove 29
Prairie Grove^7^7^6^9^--^29
Gravette^9^13^16^22^--^60
Prairie Grove: Trinity Dobbs 4-12 9-10 17, Ella Faulk 2-5 1-1 5, Zoe Hubbs 1-5 3-4 5, Arianna Harrell 0-0 1-2 1, Olivia Kestner 0-4 1-2 1, Kenleigh Elder 0-1 0-0 0, Autumn Spatz 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 7-32 15-19 29.
Gravette: Shylee Morrison 10 3-4 24, Lizzy Ellis 3 0-0 9, Taylor Neustel 3 0-0 9, Kaylan Chilton 2 4-6 8, Reese Hamilton 1 1-2 4, Dalacie Wishon 1 2-5 4, Kyra Hook 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 10-17 60.
3-Point Goals -- Prairie Grove 0-7 (Stearman 0-1, Spatz 0-1, Faulk 0-2, Dobbs 0-3), Gravette 8 (Ellis 3, Neustel 3, Morrison, Hamilton).
Rebounds -- Prairie Grove 25 (Dobbs 7). Assists -- Prairie Grove 1 (Harrel). Steals -- Prairie Grove 4 (Dobbs, Hubbs, Harrel, Spatz). Blocks -- Prairie Grove 1 (Dobbs). Turnovers -- Prairie Grove 24.