Lady Leopards show tough fight in final season match-up against rival Arkadelphia
MALVERN — Coming off a huge and important first season victory at against Ashdown in 4A-7 Conference hoops, the hometown Malvern Lady Leopards brought some momentum going into their final contest of the season Friday facing their arch-rival Arkadelphia on Senior Night Friday at the Leopard Center.
The Lady Leopards aimed to avenge their first meeting defeat against Arkadelphia, but the visiting A-town Lady Badgers shot out to a quick advantage and never looked back. The Lady Badgers secured a 53-21 win against the Lady Leopards to conclude their league season match-up.
In first quarter play, the Lady Badgers jumped out to a 4-0 lead with Amya Snowden and TT Tate sinking a bucket apiece, but Malvern’s Lanaya Williams hit two foul shots that kept the hometown hoopsters in the contest early and trailed Arkadelphia 4-2 at the 6:35 mark. The Lady Badgers opened the game and went on a run to take a double-digit lead 14-2 down to the 4:39 mark. Tate knocked down a one-handed floater in the lane while Leah Smith and TK Crawford swished a triple apiece from beyond the arc to create the Arkadelphia surge. Malvern’s Ayanna Johnson stopped the run by splitting a pair of freethrows, but the Lady Leopards trailed 14-3 with 4:13 remaining to play in first quarter action. Arkadelphia finished out the period outscoring Malvern 7-3 with Smith knocking down two jumpers and Taylor Aultman hitting 3-of-4 foul shots. Malvern’s Kailey Weaver stepped up to drill a triple from the wing beyond the arc but the Lady Leopards trailed Arkadelphia, 21-6 going into the second period.
In the second, the Lady Badgers outscored Malvern 14-6. At the break, Arkadelphia led the Lady Leopards 35-12—giving Malvern a 23-point halftime deficit heading into the locker room.
In the second half, the Lady Badgers continued its execution of production in command. In the third period, the Lady Badgers outscored Malvern 15-8. At the end of three quarters of action, the Lady Leopards trailed Arkadelphia, 50-20.
In the fourth, the clock ran continuously with the sportsmanship rule in effect with all points scored in the quarter coming from the charity stripe for both teams. The Lady Badgers added three points scored from the foul line with Zee Harper hitting 1-of2 foul shots and Kaydeia Gentry connecting on both free-throw attempts going 2-of-2 at the line. Malvern’s Johnson split a pair of
free-throws for the Lady Leopards lone point in the period.
Arkadelphia finished out with the league season sweep of wins over rival Malvern in 4A-7 Conference play for the 2022-23 basketball season.
For the game, Lady Leopards’ senior Johnson led scoring with seven points on her night for the final performance of her high school basketball career at the Leopard Center. Williams followed with four points, Weaver finished with three points from draining the team’s only 3-pointer of the game.
Chasney Cooper and Auyanna Saiz each contributed two points apiece.
Jaciah Lock, Makenna Francis and freshman Corinna Phillips all chipped in a point apiece from the charity stripe. Arkadelphia was led by Smith with nine points and nailed one triple from downtown beyond the arc. Tate and Aultman each added eight points apiece and Raygan Harris contributed six points from the field as A-town’s top scorers of the night.