Big game on tap tonight in Gentry

The stakes will be high tonight in Gentry as the winner of this longtime Benton County rivalry has the inside track to what will likely be the No. 2 seed in the 4A-1 Conference Tournament in two weeks.

Gravette and Gentry are both 13-2 in 3A/4A District 1 play with three games left in the regular season. Gentry claimed a 53-46 win in the first meeting on Jan. 5. The No. 1 seed in the conference tournament will likely go to Berryville in the blended conference.

Gravette girls coach Will Pittman said his team will have to shoot the ball better than it did in the first meeting with Gentry if they hope to stay in that top seed fight.

“We have to shoot it better, we have to pressure the ball better, we have to defend better,” Pittman said. “We shot 23 percent in that game, and you’re not going to win many games like that.”

Gravette (18-5 overall) plays at a fast tempo and likes to pressure full court using a deep rotation of eight to nine players. The Lady Lions lost a key player, Teagan Dixon, to a knee injury. She may be out of the remainder of the season, Pittman said.

“After we lost Teagan, we had to adjust our rotations, but we feel like we’ve been about to do that the past two games,” he said. “So we feel good about where we are, but we’ll know a lot more after Friday.”

Pittman said several younger players have stepped in to play key roles this season and they will need to continue to play at a high level in the postseason in this loaded region that includes Berryville, Ozark and Pottsville in addition to the teams in the 4A-1.