Siloam Springs girls hold off Southside
GIRLS SILOAM SPRINGS 43, FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE 40
FORT SMITH — Winning on the road with a young team can be a very difficult task. Siloam Springs’ were reminded of that Friday night.
Siloam Springs survived a late surge from Fort Smith Southside to escape with a 4340 victory in a nonconference matchup at Southside Arena. The Lady Panthers continued to lean on youth with freshman Morgan Jones scoring a game-high 16 points with 3 assists, 2 rebounds and a steal.
“This year has been amazing,” Jones said. “I was moved up because we graduated eight seniors that all played and three went to play in college. The team needed some help, and I want to make the most of the opportunity. I want to help this team anyway I can. I try to get other players shots because I know I can’t score them all.”
Jones was a big part of Siloam Springs opening up a close game. The Lady Panthers held just a-21 edge at halftime but used a strong third quarter to take a commanding advantage. They were ahead 37-23 entering the fourth quarter. Jones scored seven of the team’s initial 10 points for an early 35-23 third-quarter lead.
“We had a really good response from our young players,” Siloam Springs Coach Beau Tillery said. “They really responded when we talked after halftime. It was night and day. We hit some big shots. Morgan has been phenomenal as a freshman. She is ahead of her time with maturity and she just gets it.”
Siloam Springs (6-6) took a 43-28 lead in the fourth quarter but didn’t score after that, which Southside (1-9) took advantage of late. The Lady Mavericks closed out the game on a 12-0 run and had a shot at the buzzer bounce in and out of the rim.
“We had a really, really good look to tie it,” Southside Coach Robert Brunk said. “I thought it was in off the hand. We didn’t give up. That’s been our thing this year. We talked about either chasing winning or chasing losing. We made winning plays in this game. We finished strong. We are finding ways to get back into it in all our games. I’m very proud.”
Siloam Springs missed eight shots and had nine turnovers in the fourth quarter to allow Southside to make a run at it late.
“We did everything we could to help them out,” Tillery said. “But I think Southside did a good job as well, not to take anything away from them. They played well. If we make some easy shots around the rim, we probably aren’t in that situation late. That’s the battle of playing with youth and getting deep into our bench. This was a good experience.”
It was a back-and-forth first quarter with Siloam Springs taking an early 10-8 lead into the second quarter, where it was a 25-21 edge at the break. Southside was limited to two points in the third quarter.
Siloam Springs received plenty of support from players outside of Jones. Emily Keehn (8 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals, 2 assists), Cenzi Johnson (7 points, 5 steals, 4 assists, 4 rebounds), Kaidence Prendergast (5 points, 6 rebounds) and Jadyn O’Brien (3 points, 6 rebounds) were all key.
“This was a nice team win with a lot of players stepping up,” Tillery said. “We had some foul trouble, so we were deep into our bench. Keehn’s athletic ability is top notch in our league, which is a really good one. We have some capable players.”
Southside was led by a team-high 15 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals from Ari Acevedo. In the fourth quarter, Acevedo had seven points.
“She is just a sophomore that is extremely athletic,” Brunk said. “She is one of those kids that can help anywhere on the floor. She does it all and showed it. She is growing up right in front of our eyes. She had some bright moments and stepped up big in the fourth quarter. I’m proud of her.”