Flippin pulls away late in senior night matchup

FLIPPIN — The Flippin Lady Bobcats prevailed in their last home game, outscoring the Green Forest Lady Tigers 16-4 in the fourth quarter to grab a 44-33 victory Friday night in 3A-1 East Conference play at Bobcat Country.

Flippin (11-16, 4-11), which hosts the 3A-1 East District Tournament beginning Feb. 15, clinched the seventh seed in the league and will avoid playing the play- in game. Green Forest (1-20, 0-16) came close to its first league victory but could not finish in the final eight minutes.

It was senior night at Flippin as all five of the Lady Bobcats’ seniors started the game. But Green got the early jump, leading 9-2 in the first quarter and taking a 11-7 edge into the second. On three different occasions in the second quarter, the Lady Tigers led by eight points, the last time at 20-12. They led 25-19 at halftime.

The third quarter was a turnover-fest for the two clubs until Flippin finally scored at the 5:58 mark, the beginning of a 6-0 run to pull even at 25-25 with 5:25 left in the third. The Lady Bobcats took their first lead of the night at 28-27 on a pair of free throws by senior Megan Coatney with 1:40 left in the third. But Kelby Harness’ stickback at the 1:05 mark put Green Forest up 29-28 going into the fourth.

Coatney finished with 16 points to lead Flippin. Harness led Green Forest with 15.